Always & Forever (Frozen Flame 2)
by GhostfaceTV
Summary: [F/F] [CR] [OC] [DLV] [AU] Tori and Katherine have had a little bit of time to relax after their initial journey, but the fallout is about to come back and haunt them. Tough questions will be asked and even tougher decisions will have to be made. Tori struggles with the blood on her hands and the potential of having to disappear for good.
1. Restarting in the Aftermath

**I'm revisiting this world with another story so I can take a break from my main series. I know a lot of you wanted a continuation of this so I'm going to do the best I can to breathe some life back into it. Thanks for coming back!**

It had been almost three weeks since the dinner party at Tori's parent's house, and she hadn't seen or talked to any of them since. There wasn't a whole lot of time left for the summer and school would be starting again, and that added another problem to her list of things she would have to take care of. A lot of the time she spent in the house during the day, even though she had her ring, contemplating the enormity of making the decision to leave her home forever. She tried to think of ways she could finagle it so she would be able to stay but from the track records of all the vampires she had met so far, it didn't look good. Katherine had warned her that she would have to make tough decisions, but of course, she wasn't prepared for how tough the decisions would actually be until it came time to make them.  
During the few weeks that had passed her life had gotten even more complicated, decision making aside. Jade was officially declared missing after three days, given a two day grace period due to her being Jade and most people knowing how she could be. Immediately she received calls and texts from everyone in their group. First Beck, then Cat, Andre and Robbie, then Robbie again as Rex. She ignored all of their calls and decided to send a mass text out, saying she had called Jade on the day she went missing to see if she wanted to talk, but she never made it to the house. Hopefully none of her neighbors would be able to say they saw her in the area or she would have a lot more explaining to do, and she wasn't looking forward to that.  
When the news came on and the story ran for the first time Tori almost threw up. She was sitting on the couch by herself cruising the channels, trying to find something to keep her occupied for the time it took Katherine to go to the store and get something for dinner, which was code for robbing the Hospital of blood bags, when Jade's face flashed onto the flatscreen. Immediately her stomach soured and bile rose to the top of her throat, causing her to stand up and lift her arms above her head. Two things had happened; she realized that things were about to get really intense, and she also learned that even vampires were subject to some of the more annoying sides of humanity. She was part of the group that Jade was a part of so people were going to start coming around, asking questions, poking into her and her friends' lives. Tori wasn't too thrilled about that but when Katherine returned and was filled in on everything, she reminded her that she would be there to help her through everything, and that made her feel better.  
A few days later Tori's mom sent her text message telling her to answer her phone, a move that was needed since she didn't really answer a lot anymore when people called. She figured if her mom went through the trouble to text her first that it must be important, so she answered, and was not very excited to find out that the detective in charge of Jade's case was looking for her for questioning. She hung up and stood quite still for the better part of five minutes, trying to put together the best story she could for what happened that day in her head so she could rehearse before she went to the police station. Katherine offered to go with her but she declined, saying she needed to be alone to process everything internally without being distracted. It didn't work, though, since Katherine went with her anyway just as a preventive measure in case she started getting anxious. She knew that vampires getting anxious could lead to them attacking someone out of fear, and she didn't want Tori to have to try and clean up that mess by herself.  
For the first time since the sprinkling of Jade's ashes Tori found herself outside on the beach in their backyard, sitting at the end of the steps with her toes in the sand. She remembered the interrogation like it had happened that same day, the stress vivid in her memory. The police station bullpen was lively and buzzing at a fast pace when she arrived. Katherine elected to stay in the waiting room, since it was close enough to the bullpen that she could see across it to the interview room without much trouble, even if they closed the blinds. Tori checked in at the desk and told them she was there to be questioned by the detective, whose name she found out was Rocky Graham, but she was told that since she was underage she would need either the supervision of a parent or guardian or legal counsel. She quickly remembered that Gary worked there so she had the receptionist check if he was in the building and he was, so he made his way down and gave his permission for Tori to talk to the Detective and off she went.  
She caught eyes with the Detective that would be talking with her, a very tall, burly man with a crew cut and enough muscle mass for two people. He nodded her over and smiled at her as she passed him and they both headed inside. The interrogation room was pretty small and had a large metal table that was bolted to the floor, a metal chair on the side opposite the door that was also bolted to the floor and adorned with shackles and a regular chair that faced it for the interrogator. The wall with the door had a large window that was partly obscured by blinds that the Detective didn't bother to close all the way, although he did shut the door tight. When they sat down he laid down an industrial clipboard and a smaller white pad next to it on the table. Tori watched as he went through a few pages quickly before sitting back in his chair with the clipboard on his lap.

"My name is Detective Rocky Graham, I'll be asking you some questions today. What's your name?"  
"Tori Vega."  
"OK. So Miss Vega, tell me about your relationship with Miss West."  
"Well, we met when I first started attending Hollywood Arts two years ago" said Tori.  
"Were you friends from the beginning?"  
"God no" said Tori, a little laugh in her statement. She realized what she'd said and instantly became stone-faced, hoping the Detective wouldn't read into it too much. "I mean, we didn't get along very well in the beginning but I ended up falling in with the circle of people she hung out with so we had to hang out with each other, like it or not."  
"Any fights or instances where either one of you tried to hurt each other in any way?" Detective Graham looked her straight in the eyes when he asked questions and didn't waiver as she answered, which meant he was looking for any signs of a lie in her response.  
"Not really. I mean, we did petty things in class at first, like trying to make each other look bad on stage during exercises or whatever, but that was just catty girl fighting" said Tori, hoping that it would come across innocent enough for him to write it off. "Eventually though, since we hung out so much, we kind of just got used to each other and the pettiness stopped."  
"You say you got used to each other, but you never really became friends? Or am I assuming too much?"  
"No, not assuming too much. Our relationship was complicated. We didn't hate each other anymore but we weren't exactly BFFs, you know. We could sit next to each other in a quiet room and be totally fine but if we didn't see each other for a few weeks we weren't really rushing to talk or hang out. Does that make sense?"  
"Sure, yeah" said Detective Graham, "I guess you could say you had an understanding of sorts."  
"Exactly" said Tori.  
"OK, OK." He wrote a few lines on his clipboard and then looked back up. "Do you know of anyone that harbored any ill feelings toward Miss West? Anyone that maybe had a confrontation with her at some point but never really seemed to get over it, or anyone that might have had a love interest in her that she didn't return?"  
"Well there was Sinjin but-"  
"Sinjin," he flipped through his papers, "VanCleef, correct?" asked Detective Graham.  
"Yes, but he's harmless. A little weird maybe, but I doubt he could hurt someone if he wanted to."  
"You'd be surprised what people can do if they really want to Miss Vega." He tapped the pen against the paper for a second before he continued. "So you're saying Mr. VanCleef had a thing for Miss West that she didn't return, is that it?"  
"I guess-"  
"You guess or that is correct? Please Miss Vega, I need you to be as forthcoming and accurate as possible so we can find your friend. We don't have a lot of time."  
"Yes. He liked her, but she didn't like him back. She had a boyfriend."  
"Beck Oliver."  
"Yes." Tori shifted to the other leg in her seat. "Sinjin was a little odd, sure, but not in the serial killer way. I mean he liked the A/V Club and collecting bugs and other gross stuff, but he's a pretty small guy and I think if you asked him to hit someone he'd probably give you ten reasons why it would be a better idea for him not to."  
Detective Graham smiled and wrote on the paper some more. "I get it, I get it. I knew someone like that myself when I was in school. Real scrawny kid, would try to outsmart you rather than fight."  
"That's Sinjin. And other than him and Beck I don't know of anyone else that was interested in her like that." She felt a little guilty saying that, knowing that she thought Jade was cute in the beginning before they had first met.  
"OK, that's good enough for now." He flipped that page over to start a new one and looked up when there was a sharp rap on the door. Another Detective walked in and bent down next to Rocky's ear, said something in rushed whispers and then left the room after a stern nod from him. "Well the real reason I asked you here today is because we got the cell phone records back on Jade's account and there's a call from you, to her, on the day she disappeared." He looked through the papers again until he found the entry in question. "After your call there's no more activity. Can you tell me what happened that day?"  
The pressure in the room rose and Tori could feel her heartbeat pick up a little bit, but she kept her body as still as possible to keep from fidgeting. "Pretty much a normal day. My girlfriend and I spent most of the day on the couch watching the Home Shopping Network. I saw a purse on there that reminded me of the one Jade brought to school and then _that_ reminded me we had group plans to go to a concert together before the summer was over, as a group, but I wasn't sure if anyone had decided on a band yet so I called her to ask about it."  
"And what did she say?"  
"She said she hadn't heard anything but that she was busy and would call me back."  
Detective Graham flipped some more papers and then rechecked the log of calls. "Sounds consistent with the length of the call. Now your friend, what's her name?"  
"Girlfriend, as in romantic," said Tori, pursing her lips a little, "and her name is Katherine."  
"Katherine what?"  
"Pierce."  
Another glance through the paperwork looking for her name but he didn't find it so he wrote it down. "And does Katherine know Jade as well?"  
"Not really, no. She, Jade, came over to our house with the rest of the group about a month ago for a cookout and day on the beach and they met for the first time that day, but as far as I know that was the only time they ever saw each other."  
"OK."

Detective Graham scratched his nose with the back of the pen and looked through the papers again, flipping back and forth between two pages a few times before writing something on the smaller piece of paper on the table. Tori watched him work with a nervous fascination, wondering what was going through his mind at the moment. Did he believe what she said? Did she give anything away that would make him think she had something to do with it? There was no real way of knowing except waiting for a second call from him if he did have something he decided to press on. For now it looked like they were done though as he closed the pad on the clipboard and set it face down on the table before standing up.

"Thank you for your cooperation Miss Vega, I appreciate it."  
"No problem" said Tori. "If you need anything else call me."  
"We most certainly will. I hope to find your friend soon."  
"Thank you, I'm glad we have such hardworking people here that really care about the people in this town enough to make the effort." She smiled weakly knowing that every word that came out of her mouth was a well-shadowed misconception, every breath the fuel for another lie that could potentially burn her life down.  
"We do what we can." The Detective opened the door and waved an arm for her to move first and she exited the bullpen.

Katherine could see how flustered Tori was after leaving and she welcomed her with open arms, proud that she had handled such a stressful situation without any problems. There were worries that with all the stress of the interrogation and the many bodies buzzing in the bullpen that Tori's new instincts might prove to be too much and she would need to be pulled out, but Katherine was seriously hoping that wouldn't happen, since fleeing from questioning would put her square in the main suspect box and they would have to accelerate their plans by a lot. Fortunately though she proved to be a beacon of self control and Katherine was happy that she was strong enough to be trusted on her own. They linked hands and headed out the front door to the parking lot and on home.

Back in the present Tori had dug trenches in the sand with her toes. She loved that spot and being back in it with the transitional winds blowing her hair around her face made her feel a little better. It was getting to the end of summer so even though the days were still warm the winds coming off the ocean were starting to get pretty chilly, and the mixture of warm air and nice breeze created perfect nights for beach bumming. The smell of one of their neighbors grilling steaks was carried down the shoreline and it sure smelled good, even though she learned quickly that it didn't taste anything like it used to anymore. The kids from that house ran through the sand and played with a frisbee, their laughs harmonizing in a sing-song whisper on the wind. It didn't seem like too long ago that she and Trina were playing the same way before she blinked her eyes and high school had started. Trina started ignoring her and they largely went their separate ways before she blinked again and was on the couch in a cabin in Alaska with a dark haired stranger. They made love and talked through the night before she blinked again and was standing over the body of one of her best friends with a saw, ready to dispose of her body. And one blink later she was on the beach, not really alive but not really dead, staring out toward the horizon, searching for a sign that would give her the answers she needed to the tough questions that were coming. She didn't see one.  
The sky darkened gradually and the light pink and purple streaks turned into burnt orange and darker purples, then to a cold blue. Stars started poking through and the chill of the wind garnered a little more bite so Tori pulled her sweater a little tighter around herself and wrapped her arms around her midsection. Looking out at the water she could see the silhouettes of her friends from the day they spent out under the sun, swimming and cooking out and enjoying life. She could see the smile on Beck's face and the way Jade scoffed when she even thought about being out in the sunlight for more than ten minutes with her milky white complexion. Their group would never be whole again and for that she felt extremely guilty, but there was no way she could change it now. Eventually she would have to leave all of them and the thought of the rest of them having to deal with her _and _Jade both being missing, forever, made her feel even worse.  
She watched the waves lap up at the beach in their soft, rhythmic motion and even with her heightened senses was unaware that Katherine had joined her until she casually cleared her throat. Katherine knew better than to startle her since she was still new, and being new meant having really quick reactions that didn't always end up the prettiest way. Tori turned her head a little and smiled, still keeping her eyes out on the water. Katherine slipped an arm around her waist and leaned her head on her shoulder, breathing in the smell of vanilla she loved so much that the wind swept off of Tori's neck.

"Hey" said Katherine.  
"Hi."  
"When was the last time you fed?"  
"Um, maybe a couple hours ago? I don't really remember."  
"Well I was thinking," Katherine started, turning Tori's body toward the Pier, "you should head to the Pier with me. Walk around a little bit, see what's going on-"  
"We just went recently," Tori interrupted, "you want to go again?"  
"-and get someone to eat."  
The idea of seeking live prey made Tori's limbs buzz with excitement. "You think that's a good idea?"  
"You need to get practice" said Katherine. "The people that work there know who you are since you live in the area and go there often, so they'll be comfortable in your presence. Walk around, examine the situation, then find a suitable candidate."  
"Well OK then, let's go."

Katherine led the way and they walked through the sand all the way to the edge of the Pier and then up and around to the entrance. It was getting around peak hour for most of the teenage groups to start arriving in packs so there wouldn't be any shortage of fresh blood for them to choose from. Tori took in the sights from side to side, amazed at how simple the place seemed before with her duller human senses. With her new vision and sense of smell the colors seemed more crisp and popped out at her, and the carnival food smelled sweet and succulent enough to make her mouth water. The clings and clangs of the games stole her attention at every turn and the roar of the rollercoaster added a booming bass. Katherine watched her and smiled, remembering back to when she was new and everything seemed so much more bold and enticing. Tori would eventually get used to it and it would be as awe-inspiring as it currently was, but the fascination never really went away.  
In the rear end of the central game area they spotted two large groups of high school kids heading for the Ferris Wheel, and Tori knew that would be her perfect time to strike. She led Katherine through the Minesweeper-like rows of people with the neon lights of the wheel reflected in her eyes. The smell of warm saltwater invaded her nose as the breeze from the ocean kicked up and the electricity in the air had her walking with her eyes closed and a smile on her face. Her vampire body was immune to human sickness and fatigue, which meant she felt pretty good almost all of the time as long as she had blood in her. Her memories were more vivid and the feelings they trudged up were heavier and more realistic than she could ever remember before. The smell of the ocean mixed with the fried food and cotton candy reminded her of being a kid and the visions in her mind were almost more real than the ones in front of her had she opened her eyes. She never wanted that feeling to end.  
The boom of a megaphone knocked her out of her trance and alerted her to the fact that they had arrived at the Ferris Wheel. The two groups of kids started to get on two at a time until the last two were left, but they didn't make a move to get on. A pretty girl in a plain green sweater with white shorts was standing with a tall, well built guy wearing a Letterman jacket. He had his hands in his pockets and she had her arms crossed over chest like something was wrong.

"You know I don't like heights Cassie" said the boy.  
"I don't want to go by myself! I'll hold your hand if that makes you feel better."  
"I'm sorry, I can't."

The guy looked upset, like he was legitimately feeling down due to his paralyzing fear. Robbie was the same way and he never wanted to go on it either, so Tori knew what he was going through, and she didn't particularly like the way his girlfriend, or whoever she was, was heckling him about it.

"My girlfriend doesn't like to go on these things either," said Tori, stepping up the to couple, "so if you want you can ride with me."  
Cassie studied Tori for a second and turned her head to the side, much like a dog does when it doesn't understand something. "Sure, why not. At least I'll get to go."

Tori looked back at Katherine and she gave her a reassuring smile, then the two girls climbed into the basket and got situated. It took a few minutes for the ride to fill up all the way and then it began moving at a steady pace, going around in a full circle once and then stopping with Tori and Cassie's cart a little above midway up on the right side. The horizon looked black and the bright half moon reflected in the water, it's reflection shattering into a million tiny pieces each time the waves crashed against the shore in a rhythmic crescendo of relaxation. She looked over the side of the basket and watched the water wrap around the large poles holding the Pier up under the end of it, startled when Cassie decided to talk.

"Ethan is such a baby sometimes."  
"Well I mean, if he's afraid of heights-"  
"He's afraid of being alone with me or something" Cassie blurted out, oblivious that Tori was even talking. "He only goes out with me when there's going to be a group of us, but if I ask him to the movies or something he always says he's sick or he has homework."  
"Maybe there's something wrong and you guys need to have a talk or something."  
"I don't know, I think he just needs to man up." Cassie shrugged her shoulders and looked back out her side of the basket.  
"You sound like kind of a bitch" said Tori. "I mean really, maybe he has a good reason for not wanting to hang out with you. I can see why if he did."  
Cassie scoffed and looked at Tori like she had said the most offensive thing possible. "Who do you think you are?"  
"Someone that's kind of hungry" Tori answered slowly, her eyes turning red and fangs growing rapidly. Cassie tried to scream but Tori reached over with lightning speed and covered her mouth, then looked her straight in the eye. "Don't scream, don't fight, and don't tell anyone." After that she sunk her teeth into the bottom part of Cassie's neck, a place that she could still easily drink from but that would be covered by her sweater.

Blood filled the inside of her mouth and the strong taste overpowered all of her other senses. The thickness of it coated her palette the same way chocolate does when you let it melt a little before eating it, and it tingled her throat all the way down. Cassie's heart did most of the work, pumping the blood through her veins so it pushed out onto Tori's lips with each beat of her heart. The world started to spin and she could feel the heat of her sex spreading through her whole body. Her breathing quickened and fingers trembled with the absolute bliss of the moment. She pulled and pulled at the girl's shoulder until she felt the burning in her throat start to subside, and part of her remembered that she had to stop so Cassie wouldn't die. It was a herculean effort but she managed to pull away, reveling in the far away look she had in her eyes. Tori snapped her fingers a few times and she came to, instantly moving a hand up to her neck. Cassie saw blood on her fingers and looked at Tori questioningly, but she just shrugged and didn't say anything, so Cassie decided that it wasn't important and pulled her sweater up to cover the wound.  
The ride came full circle and everyone got off one basket at a time. When Tori and Cassie got off Katherine was beaming and Ethan looked a little bit crabby, but he probably had his reasons. He and Cassie stalked off together with the rest of their group while she played with her sweater in the spot that the bite marks were at, like she maybe had an itch or just needed to keep her hands busy. Katherine took Tori's hands and pulled her in for a kiss. Not a big kiss, but a small, sweet one, and their faces lingered together for a few seconds afterward. They searched each other's eyes for what each was feeling, and satisfied that everything was OK, they turned together to leave the Pier and go back home.  
The way back out was even more packed than it had been on the way in so they had to detour a bit, circling around to the far right side by the rollercoaster and the food stands. Some of the people that recognized Tori waved to her and she waved back kindly, smiling lazily with the euphoric feeling of a feed coursing through her. She hummed a small tune and rubbed small circles into a spot on Katherine's hand, breathing deep the air of accomplishment. She had successfully fed on a live human and nothing went wrong, that was something to celebrate, so before they cleared the games section completely she pulled her girlfriend to the dart throwing stand where it was possible to win a stuffed animal by popping balloons.

"Which one do you want?" asked Tori.  
Katherine smiled wide and looked around before pointing toward the top. "That one."  
"Whoa-ho, big shot" said the game runner.  
"Go big or go home right?"  
"OK then" said Tori, handing the man a five dollar bill. He handed her back three ones and three darts so she could try her luck.  
"You have to hit three of the smaller ones on the top row for that prize, keep that in mind" said the game runner.

Tori threw one dart, one balloon. She smiled and aimed again, throwing another successful strike. A sideways glance at Katherine showed her that she was watching intently, her eyes raking over her features, so she bent over the counter a little to stick her ass out before throwing the last dart. Strike three.

"We have a winner" said the game runner, grabbing the giant stuffed panda from the top shelf. He reached over the counter and handed it to Katherine who accepted it with a smile, then turned to Tori to say thank you. All of the color drained from her face in one fell swoop and she almost dropped her bear, prompting Tori to look behind her to find out what she had seen.

A blonde girl stood next to them with a sly smile and an air of slight annoyance. Tori had no idea who she was but she could tell by the way she stood and the way she looked around that she was one of them, and with Katherine's reaction she must have been someone pretty powerful. Just as soon as Katherine had faltered she regained her composure, her face hard and her body positioned between fight or flight. The man at the game counter looked between all three of them with an air of curiosity and it shocked Tori into remembering that they were surrounded by humans, a thought that still troubled her a bit seeing as she was new to being not human, but nonetheless it reminded her that they needed to move.

"Let's move this along to the beach shall we?"  
"With pleasure" said the blonde, passing by both of them to lead the way.

The way Katherine reacted to the stranger had Tori worried. She knew that Katherine was pretty old, even for a vampire, and that the older the vampire the stronger, so if she was scared of someone, she must have been ancient. It was weird seeing the girl she knew to always be so strong, so composed and ready for anything drop her facade for any amount of time, especially in public. The stranger walked with a casual elegance that displayed importance, hinting to the fact that she may have been royalty or otherwise important at some point in time. Katherine followed close to Tori and they were at least twenty paces behind her, and by the time they had gotten to a spot on the beach where no one else was in earshot the stranger had turned around and was facing their direction, waiting for them.  
Katherine pushed Tori back a little bit so she was standing in front of her and they crossed the gap in a short amount of time, Katherine looking off to the row of houses to see how far away they were from theirs. Tori saw that as looking for an escape route and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that whoever was in front of them was dangerous, and she planned to hold herself accordingly. A few couples from the Pier had found their way out to the sand to make out or have sex or whatever it was they did and all three of the girls were careful to mind them, making sure they were far enough away they wouldn't be overheard. They reached the stranger, who looked at the two of them like she was trying to see through them, maybe find a weakness she could exploit, but Tori held her head high and stood next to Katherine when they stopped.

"Hello Katherine."  
"Rebekah."  
"Who is this?" She pointed to Tori and then used the finger she pointed with to twirl her hair a bit.  
"This is Tori. My girlfriend."  
Rebekah's eyes lit up and she smiled wide. "_Really?_ So the stone cold Katherine actually has a heart in there somewhere?"  
"Hey-" Tori started, but was cut off almost immediately by Katherine's hand pressing against her stomach.  
"What do you want?"  
"You know bloody well what I want" said Rebekah, the smile vanishing from her face. "I know you have the sword."  
"Well I'm not giving it to you, so you're wasting your time." Katherine stole a sideways glance at Tori to see how she was doing and Rebekah used that window to move forward and secure her by the throat.  
"If I kill you, there's a chance that I might never find it." Rebekah swiped a hand by her neck to throw her hair to the other shoulder. "But if you don't give it to me, I still won't have it, but you'll be alive and be allowed to mock me by breathing. I don't like that."  
"If you kill me your brother will super pissed that you took that joy away from him, you know that." Katherine seemed to be jesting her. Tori couldn't figure out what was going on so she decided to ask and see what happened.  
"OK then who is her brother?"  
Rebekah smiled playfully and let go of Katherine's neck. "Has she met Nicklaus?"


	2. Reconciliation

"You're related to Klaus?" asked Tori, looking back and forth between Rebekah and Katherine so fast she thought her head might unscrew.  
"Unfortunately" said Rebekah. "He used to actually be sort of decent, probably around nine hundred and fifty years ago. Shame he's turned into prick he is."  
"Yeah your family problems are terrible, but like I said, I'm not giving you the sword, so just leave." Katherine grabbed Tori's hand and started walking to the house but Rebekah grabbed Tori's arm to stop them.  
"You might want to consider being less of a bitch, since even though you're pretty strong and clever enough to elude even Klaus for as long as you have, your pretty girlfriend doesn't have the same skillset."  
"I promise you, if anything happens to her and you have something to do with it, I will fuck you to death with a White Oak stake."  
Rebekah's eyebrows raised and she looked curious, yet somehow in a less brutal way than before. "I see." She let go of Tori's wrist and licked her lips, turning out to the sea with the girls at her back. "All I've wanted for the last thousand years is to be human again. If I was human, I wouldn't be able to hurt you anymore."  
"Yeah but Klaus can. My knowledge of the sword is the only thing that's letting me live out in the open and actually enjoy some kind of life with someone instead of hiding constantly. I don't want to give that up. Not for you, not for anyone."  
"I can understand that" said Rebekah as she extended her arms to feel the breeze. "What if I could help you with Nicklaus? If I could find a way to make him give you your freedom back would you give me the sword?"

Katherine looked at Tori for the space of a few moments. She really looked into her eyes, a searching, longing look that kind of unsettled Tori. She stood there and fiddled with her thumbs as they talked since she wasn't sure what was going on. Katherine brought a hand up and tucked her hair behind her ear, savoring the feeling of their skin on skin contact by running her fingers gently down her neck. Rebekah looked away and kept her eyes on the sand, not wanting to get in the middle of their moment and ruin her chances of gaining allies. Tori looked back at Katherine and then to Rebekah, trying to assess the situation the best she could without knowing a lot of the details. It seemed like Rebekah was dangerous, but if Katherine was willing to help her she trusted her judgment and would support her decision. With that said she kissed her girlfriend on the cheek and shook her head yes.

"We'll help you," said Katherine, if you can come up with a good enough plan that won't piss Klaus off even more than he is now."  
"I've been thinking of some things but I'm open to suggestions." Rebekah walked back up from the water's edge and stood in a triangle formation with the other two.  
"What makes you think we can find a way to make this all work out? The only way Klaus is going to let me live freely is if he gets the cure and destroys it."  
"We just have to find something he wants more."

Rebekah walked up the beach without another word and then she was gone. Tori grabbed Katherine's hand and they headed up to the house, exhausted after a long day of thinking and healing. Her life was definitely more complicated now but she knew it wouldn't always be that way. The worst part about it was that, same as usual, it was going to get a whole lot worse before it got better. As long as anyone she knew was alive she would have to worry about possibly being seen anywhere in the world, since people traveled for business and pleasure. Her friends would be growing up and getting jobs and creating families that would go on vacation, and there was always a chance, no matter how small, that she could run into someone from her old life on the street. It was bad enough knowing that she would have to leave everyone at some point, but thinking about accidentally seeing one of them again and confusing them made her chest hurt. She made a mental note to ask Katherine how she dealt with it at some point so she could have some sort of reference to see what she was in for.  
Inside the house was quiet and calm. The dim lighting from the chandelier in the living room cast shadows on the far wall and the crystals reflected little bits of rainbow light on them. Katherine grabbed a blood bag from the kitchen and Tori remembered that she hadn't eaten and suddenly felt bad. The look on her face gave her away and Katherine waved her down with the tip of the bag held in her teeth and then laid on the edge of the couch. Tori laid on the other side so their knees met in the middle and she was suddenly reminded of their nights together at the cottage. They were both lying on the couch with their feet in precarious places, and as her eyes traveled down Katherine's followed, smiling the whole way. She finished the blood bag and set it on the coffee table next to them, then propped herself up on the pillow.

"I really didn't like leaving you that morning without saying goodbye" said Katherine.  
"I didn't like it either" said Tori. "I stood in the kitchen with your note and traced over the letters of your name. The paper had a bit of your perfume on it and I remember sitting on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate just holding it up to my nose so I could hold on to some part of you."  
Katherine blushed a little and her smile lit up her eyes. "I don't know what it is about you that makes me feel like a kid again, but you could tell anyone I've ever met about us and they wouldn't believe a word without seeing it first hand."  
"Rebekah seemed pretty surprised" said Tori. "Her face changed really fast when you said girlfriend, almost made me laugh."  
"My history with the Original family is sort of spotty, but the only one of them I have a real problem with is Klaus. The others don't really bother me too much."  
"How many are there?"  
"Six total, but now there's only three; Klaus, Elijah and myself. Henrik, Finn and Kol are all gone."  
"Wow, big family" said Tori. "I just have the one sister, and she's special, as you've seen."  
Katherine flipped through the channels on the TV until she hit the music channels and put on some easy listening for background noise. "Yeah, each one a little more vicious as you go up the line. Klaus, as you've seen, is pretty much a walking terrorizer."  
"Can't he be killed, though? Hasn't anyone tried?"  
"It's not that easy. The Original family has to be taken out with a special kind of stake made from a White Oak tree that doesn't exist anymore."  
"Well I'm sure we'll figure something out. I don't want you to have to keep running anymore either."

They each cuddled into their spots and closed their eyes, intent on just lying quietly and listening to the music coming from the TV. Tori was still buzzing a little from her first fun, public feed and the rush lingered in her fingers and toes, helping her drift off to sleep relatively quickly. It didn't take long for her dreams to overcome her and even though she had had a good night, it didn't stop her conscience from creeping up on her. Visions of Jade's face swam around and mocked her, smiling innocently before flashing to the final version she saw while tossing the pieces into the fire. Each time her dream self would throw another piece in she would flinch, rolling around on the couch like she was fighting someone. Katherine ended up being woken up since she was a light sleeper and grabbed Tori in her arms, carrying her up to their bedroom with small cooing sounds to try and calm her down. After they had gotten comfortable in their own bed her thrashing subsided a little, but it didn't completely stop until the next morning.  
The sun rose slowly and beams of light found their way around the cracks in the curtains, spilling brilliant pools of soft yellow on the midnight blue bedding. It was a lazy feeling Friday, one of those types of days where Tori would have felt comfortable with just staying inside all day and watching movies or listening to music. She decided the best thing to do would probably be to just lay low and play it cool for a little while, especially since Detective Graham would be watching her and her friends. Hopefully they didn't have someone watching her last night while she was out at the Pier with the outside image of having fun. The others in the group were probably worried sick and not really in the mood to hang out or do anything like that so she needed to make sure she kept up with the image of someone that had a missing friend. Katherine was great in that she would do whatever she needed to do to help her through it, and if that meant slumming it inside for another couple of weeks while Tori got off of the suspect list, then she would do it. Tori wasn't used to having that kind of commitment in a relationship, but she really did value the comfort in it.  
Eventually Katherine woke up next to her and rolled over to face her direction, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and blinking a lot to get used to the odd not-bright-but-not-dark lighting of the room. The way she always stretched and yawned in the same manner every morning was something that made Tori laugh. It was one of those things that could be counted on no matter what, like the tide or Beck being at Nacho King on Wednesdays. Every time she would stretch her arms out then then bring them back behind her head to crack her back, even though it never actually cracked, and then with the exhale of her yawn flop back down onto her pillow. It was one of those things, Tori noticed, that would be categorized as a small thing someone does that their partner recognizes and adores them for. The smallest things were usually the things that brought people closer together and she understood that more and more every day.

A quick check of her phone showed two text messages; one from Cat and one from Beck.

_Hi Tori! Have you talked to the scary Detective yet? My brother had to talk to a guy like that once for urinating in front of an Old Folk's home. Anyway text me back, I miss you!-Cat_

She chuckled and closed it for the moment so she could read Beck's next.

_We need to talk, Tor. Can you meet me somewhere? Today? -B_

That message worried her a lot more than the thoughts in her head had the night before. Did Beck know something? She didn't think he could have, since he wasn't there when Jade's health took a turn for the worst, but otherwise how could he have found out? Maybe it was paranoia creeping up on her and he didn't actually _know _anything, but she would have to be sure before she could relax, which meant letting him know that they could meet that afternoon. She opened a reply and rifled it off as fast as she could before setting her phone back on the table with a disgusted look, like the phone was some sort of slimy bug. Tori was good at a lot of things, but most of those things were human things; she had learned really quickly that dealing with human related issues when you're not so human anymore was a lot more difficult than Katherine and her friends made it seem.

"What's the matter?" asked Katherine. "I've only seen that look on your face once and that was when you tried to eat a hamburger after you turned."  
"I wish that disappointment was the top of my list of problems right now" said Tori. "I got a couple texts from the guys. Beck said 'we need to talk' and he wants me to meet him today."  
"I'm sure it's nothing, he probably just wants to be close to you again since you guys were such good friends before. He lost a girl he really cared about and since you guys don't hang out or talk anymore it's like he lost you, too."  
Tori frowned loudly. "That makes sense. I told him I would meet him at the coffee shop around the corner from my parent's house this afternoon and we could sit outside somewhere, I'm just nervous about the whole thing."  
Katherine rolled over and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Don't be. Remember, he's the same Beck you were friends with before, he just has a sort of hole in his heart right now. Once you start talking it'll be like nothing happened."  
"I hope so."

Tori decided to get up and take a shower so she could start mentally preparing herself for the meeting ahead. She turned on the shower radio to the news and stood under the hot water for what felt like half an hour, soaking up the warmth as if it would wash away all of her worries. When she realized that the water was starting to cool off and she still had everything in front of her to deal with, not to mention the fact she'd wasted all the hot water and ruined Katherine's chances at getting in after her, she turned the handles and stepped out with limbs that felt like they weighed a ton. It was going to be a little while yet before Jade's case was closed enough that everyone would move on the best they could, and even after that she would have to live with that guilt forever, or at least until she got staked. The weatherman stated that it was going to be mild to warm so she opted for a thin long sleeve shirt and dark skinny jeans, dressing quickly and heading down to the living room.  
It still felt weird to roam around such a large house that she could call her own. It had only been a month or so since she had decided to move out of her parent's house and in that time she figured she would get used to having her own place, but the grandeur kept it from seeming real. Katherine had collected a lot of things throughout her life and she displayed them in different areas of the house. Old pieces of jewelry sat on little glass stands in the corners of the living room and the room at the end of the hallway that led to the basement. Paintings hung in ornate frames on many of the walls and she couldn't help but wonder how many of them were originals and what they were worth. It didn't really matter, though, since she could compel people to get what she wanted now much the same as Katherine could. The temptation to go out and try it just for the sake of trying it was huge but she didn't want to do anything that might draw attention to herself at the time. The best piece in the house, she had to admit, was the grand piano by the entrance. It was large and sturdy, made with the finest old world craftsmanship. There were probably a ton of people that would kill to even play it once, much less own it, and she found that funny as she had only ever sat behind it once when she was able to anytime she wanted.  
The kitchen was as grand as any she had ever seen and just walking into it would remind someone of looking through a home design catalog. The white tile gleamed fiercely and the marble counters shined to the point that they almost seemed to move like water. The fridge had a transparent front so you could see what was inside it, the first she had ever seen one of those. The blood bags were of course stored in the drawers because of that feature, and she dug through to grab two of them before returning upstairs. Katherine had decided to try her luck with the shower anyway so Tori left her bag on her bedside table and opened hers up, drinking it down in one with her eyes fixed out the window. There was quite a bit of space between the houses on that strip of the beach so looking out the bedroom window she could see a lot of the sand and sky, and it was just as calming as ever. The blood coated her throat and coursed through her, bringing renewed life and energy. Her mind cleared up a bit and suddenly the thought of what she was going to say to Beck at their meet-up had her nervous again. They hadn't talked in so long they didn't have any common ground to cover so it would be up to their imaginations to find something. That is, if he wasn't calling her to say he knew exactly what she did.  
A pile of things sat in the corner of the bedroom from the haul that they had recently brought over from her parent's house that was the last of her bedroom. She got up and went through the bag on top and pulled out her laptop, thinking that maybe she could go through The Slap and try to find something that anyone in the group had posted to catch her up on what was happening. The laptop started up and she opened the browser, clicking the first bookmark in the bar as soon as it loaded. The Slap had gotten a new design that looked more modern and streamlined, another thing on the list that had changed in her life recently. There wasn't much in the activity feed since summer wasn't quite over yet and people were mostly too busy on the beach or at the movies or bowling alley to really get online and update their pages. Andre had a couple posts from around the time they had the barbeque, showcasing a few new tracks he was working on for his debut album. She clicked on the first one and it started playing at a low volume so she turned it up a bit, smiling when Andre's smooth R&B vocals drifted through the speakers. Of all the things she missed in their group dynamic, it was definitely her best friend singing to her all the time.  
Katherine made her way back into the bedroom in a towel and smiled when she saw Tori on the bed. It wasn't very often that she actually took the time to check her web stuff, which is something she knew modern teenagers to be obsessed with, and that was something that she actually liked about her. So many kids we preoccupied with the internet and video games that they never really experienced the world around them. She hated sounding like an old person, saying kids and their technology were going to be the end of the world, but having lived seven lifetimes and counting she did happen to know a thing or two about the world. Tori was a rare sort of young person that would rather get involved with an intelligent discussion about anything or just throw herself into a book, and those were definitely the traits of someone that Katherine could easily find herself being with for an eternity.  
She went through her drawers and grabbed underwear first, letting her towel drop with a backwards glance at Tori before she started to dress. Tori pretended like she wasn't going to watch but they locked eyes once or twice in her quick glances, each of their smiles growing wider each time. Even after her bottom layer was on Katherine continued to shake her hips intentionally, bending low with her legs straight to open the bottom drawer. She pulled out a brown leather jacket with shortened sleeves and a white shirt to put on under it and by that time Tori wasn't even pretending not to watch anymore. She was leaning back against her pillows, propped up to the headboard to keep her upright while she watched. Katherine twirled gracefully and stretched out her long limbs, flipping her loose curls to one side so she could extend the slope of her neck. Tori bit her lip and turned so she was facing that side of the room to make it easier to see and Katherine extended her leg out to the bed, leaning forward to flex her calf muscle as she put on her socks. By the time she'd finished Tori was visibly shaken and the rise and fall of her chest was exaggerated.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there" said Katherine.  
"I'm sure you didn't" said Tori, crawling over to the other side of the bed. "Otherwise, you clearly would have dressed in the bathroom, right?"  
"Oh you know me so well."

Tori leaned over and kissed Katherine on the lips, a full-on kiss that they hadn't really had in a while. With all the stress and guilt racking her she wasn't really in the right mood or mindset to be intimate, but the way Katherine had put on even the smallest show for her really perked her back up. She grabbed Katherine's face on both sides and pulled her in, kissing down to her neck and then sitting in the crook of it for a minute, reveling in the warmth and smell of strawberries. They held each other for a few minutes and when they pulled back Tori had a smile that seemed like it wouldn't go away for a long time.

"Are you going to be OK on your little coffee date without me?"  
"Like you said, it's Beck, I think I can manage" said Tori. "At least I hope so."  
"Well since you have plans I'm going to make myself scarce and go check up on some things. If you need me I'm always just a phone call away."  
"You know I love you right?" asked Tori, leaning forward to give her a butterfly kiss on the left cheek.  
"Imagine craving that connection for over five hundred years and finally finding it, and that's my love for you." She pecked Tori on the lips and was gone.

Tori still had a few hours until she needed to meet Beck so she decided to head downstairs and see if she could find something on TV. It had even been a while since she'd sat down to watch something so most of the shows that she had followed before the original trip to the cottage were so far ahead that it would take her months to catch up, and most of the new stuff that had come out was reality garbage that she didn't care for. After going through the whole list of channels once and arriving back at channel three she gave up and decided to go sit on the back deck and get some air. Outside the familiar sound of kids playing came from both sides of the deck and the soothing ocean breeze was enough to make her want to take a nap even though she'd just woken up. After a few minutes of watching the Pier with her souped-up vision she retired in one of the chairs with her feet up on the railing. The sound of crashing waves ebbing and flowing matched the rhythm of her heartbeat and before she knew it she was dozing off.  
A half hour passed before her phone started buzzing and knocked her out of her trance. She took it out of her pocket and looked at the screen; it was her dad. He never called her, if he wanted to talk he would usually just text and find a time to go out to lunch or something so it was odd that he would actually be making a call. That in mind, she decided to actually answer.

"Hi dad, what's up?"  
"I heard your talk with Graham went pretty well" said David. "If he calls you in again, though, I want you to call me before you go so I can be there."  
Tori smiled and rolled her eyes. "It's fine dad, it wasn't that big of a deal."  
"I know it doesn't seem like it to you but those boys are trained to be good cop bad cop, and I don't want you to have to experience that by yourself. Promise me?"  
"Sure thing" said Tori. "Want to have dinner soon or something?"  
"Yeah. Give me the details whenever you want and I'll be there. I gotta go kid, I love you."  
"Love you too, dad."

It was nice to hear from her dad once in a while. Since he had moved out of the house it was kind of weird for everyone for a little while, and when Gary moved in it was even worse. It took at least a few weeks before they could all sit at the dinner table together at the same time for a meal, and the first few attempts were kind of awkward to say the least. Gary was really good at it though, and any time either of the girls got up from the table without an excuse to get away from the situation he never said anything about it, then or any time after. Tori's mom was good about it too as she never asked questions or pressured the girls into talking about it, she just assumed that if they had something to say they would either announce it or go to her with whatever they needed. It took a little while but they rebuilt a sort of family existence in the house again, although there was a gray cloud that seemed to hang over it a little bit that everyone noticed but no one wanted to mention.  
There was still an hour and a half or so before it was time to leave but Tori was out of things to do, so she decided to text Beck and see if he wanted to go early. He replied a few minutes later with "sure, see you there" and she headed inside to get ready. Katherine had left the keys to the Audi in the bowl next to the door so she could take the car, an exciting revelation since she wanted to drive it as soon as she saw it for the first time. It was jet black with a whiskey colored interior, the color nearly matched Tori's eyes perfectly. She smiled and got in, quick to check the mirrors and everything before she got going, but then realizing that her and Katherine were pretty much identical in size and there was no need to change anything. Just another reason to love her.  
The coffee shop was a few city blocks away but luckily she beat the work rush, arriving within fifteen minutes of leaving the house. Beck wasn't there yet from what she could see so she parallel parked in front of the shop and went inside to order. The barista was a younger guy, probably seventeen or so and had a blue and black mohawk. It looked like he was a barista by day but when it came time to take off the apron he was ready to jump right into the mosh pit. He had full sleeve tattoos on each arm and some that went up his neck from under his shirt, and she couldn't help but think of what her dad would say about the kid if he could see him. Probably something along the lines of him coming from an unstructured household and not being taught discipline at a young age. She loved her dad no matter what, but he was a pretty bad judge of character, especially with his built-in prejudice thanks to his professional experience.

"I'll take a vanilla chai with light foam" said Tori.  
"Your wish is my command" said the boy, slunking off to the steamed milk machine.

He returned a minute later and handed Tori the drink, which she paid for with cash. She was returning the change to the small purse she carried in case of emergencies when she turned around and realized Beck was standing behind her. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt that ended perfectly at the waistline of his jeans with a thin sandstone-colored vest over it, finished off with dark jeans and a pair of black and white low tops.

"Oh, hey Beck."  
"Hey Tor. Good to see you." He brought her in for a hug and squeezed, and before that moment Tori had no idea how much she really missed him.  
"It's good to see you too. Thanks for calling."  
"Sure. I'm gonna grab something and I'll meet you outside."

Tori went out and found a table for them to sit at that was far enough from the door that no one would overhear their conversation. Not many people were there and most of the ones that were were sitting next to the door. She sipped the foam off her drink and then Beck came out, shaking his head as he made his way to the table. Tori watched him with an amused look and when he reached the table they made eye contact, and he immediately cracked a smile.

"That kid in there is something else" said Beck.  
"Yeah. I couldn't help but think what my dad would have said to him if he were here."  
"I'm sure that would have been rich." Beck turned his cup so the mouthpiece was facing him and then drummed the lid a little with his fingertips. "So, how've you been?"  
"Good" said Tori, through a sizable exhale. "I've been kind of stressed out lately with Jade being gone and moving out of my parent's house, thinking about school and maybe finding a job."  
"Me too. I've been helping my uncle out by doing some simple things. Yard work, cleaning gutters, organizing the basement, stuff like that. He's in a wheelchair so he can't really do that stuff anymore and it's pretty expensive to hire strangers, so I told him I'd do it at a reduced rate."  
"Well that was nice of you" said Tori, taking a drink of her tea and almost spitting it back into the cup when it burned her mouth. "That was a little premature."  
Beck laughed a little nodded. "Yeah it'll get you if you're not careful."

The next few minutes of silence was a little awkward. They both nodded and looked around, pretending to be interested in their surroundings due to lack of viable conversation. It wasn't too bad until they made eye contact while looking around, then Tori dropped her eyes to the table and Beck cleared his throat. They both took another drink at the same time and set their cups down next to each other, eyeing a couple across that street that was walking their dog. It felt weird to be in a situation where two formerly great friends were at an impasse. They each had things they wanted to say but neither of them really knew how to say it. It was like all of the rapport they'd built in their friendship had gone out the window within a few weeks, but it seemed like something as big as losing a close member of your group would cause that to happen. Finally the tension hit a breaking point and Beck put his elbows on the table, clasping his hands together in front of his face.

"Listen," he started, "I called you because I wanted to talk about what happened between you and Jade at the little party thing we had at your place."  
Immediately Tori's hands got clammy and her throat seemed to close. "I remember, did she finally manage to tell you?"  
"Yeah she did" said Beck, picking up his cup and swirling the liquid in it a bit. "I was about as blown away as you were I suppose. I thought she was just joking with me or something at first, but when I saw the tears in her eyes I knew that it definitely wasn't funny."  
"I felt so bad over the whole thing" said Tori. "I told her that if her timing was better it could have been something entirely different."  
"Yeah she told me that, too. Kind of made me sad, I would have liked to have seen you two actually work something out and be nice to each other."  
"Me too."

Silence crept over the table again but it was a lot more indiscernible than before. It was pretty obvious that Beck was upset, which was to be expected. He didn't seem accusatory, though, and that helped to relieve some of the pressure in Tori's chest. Although he didn't seem to have any sort of feeling that she did something to Jade physically, she kind of got the feeling that it was because she turned Jade down that maybe she decided to take off. He wasn't mad about it, more like upset that his group was falling apart and there wasn't really much he could do about it. She felt the same way of course; there was really no handbook on how to deal with the loss of a friend, especially when multiple people were involved, so they were naturally just feeling each other out at a time where neither of them actually knew what they were feeling.  
She watched as he drank from his cup and looked everywhere except at the table, and there seemed to be a wall growing between them with every passing moment. An invisible yet powerful wall, one that if left unchecked, could potentially be the nail in the coffin of what was once a great friendship. It would have been easy to just let it keep rising until she couldn't see him anymore, admit defeat and excuse herself to run back home, but she really did care about Beck as much as she did everyone else in their group so she decided to take the initiative.

"I miss her too, Beck. I really wish I could do something to bring her back and put everything back to the way it was, and I know you feel the same way, but we just don't have that power."  
"I know, I just can't help but think that if maybe she would have told me sooner I could have been there as her best friend to maybe make her feel better." Beck's eyes dropped to the table again and the look of sadness on his face was too much for her to bare. "Or at least like she didn't have to leave."  
Tori could feel her heart breaking with each word that came out of his mouth. It tore into her like a vine with thorns, making its way through her veins into her chest, sharp tips scraping the whole way.  
"At least we still have each other, until she comes back."  
"You're right. I want to get the group back together soon. You can even bring Katherine, I like her. I'm pretty sure the others do, too."  
"What did you have in mind?"  
"We could go galactic bowling or something, maybe on Tuesday. This is the last week before school and they'll be having some pretty sweet deals."  
Tori smiled for what felt like the first time in a hundred years. "Yeah, that sounds like fun."  
Beck finished his drink and shot it into the trash can across from them like a basketball. "Well I'm gonna head back to my uncle's place and see if I can get anything else done for him before the day is over, keep my weekend rate."  
Tori stood up and grabbed her purse. "How much does it differ from your weekly rate?"  
"About two bucks an hour less."

He smiled and Tori couldn't help but run forward and wrap her arms around him again. He was such a caring and loving person that would do anything for anyone as long as he could, no matter what it cost him. He did back breaking work for a lower pay so he could help out his family. He was always around for advice or jokes or really whatever you could possibly need a person for, and she realized that she really took that for granted before. But not anymore.

"Make sure you get a hold of me about bowling. I really want to go."  
"I will."  
"And just text me or something." Tori tucked her hair behind her ear and stopped walking, her body facing the car but her head turned back toward Beck. "If you're bored and just want to talk or whatever, you know I'm just as much here for you as you are for me."  
"I know, and I appreciate it."  
"I'll see you soon?" asked Tori, the hopefulness in her heart picking up her voice a bit.  
"I'll see you soon" said Beck, smiling with one last wave before he headed around the corner and out of sight.


	3. Growing Suspicion

The afternoon was still budding and since Katherine was gone Tori didn't really want to go straight home, so she decided to drive around her old neighborhood for a little while and see what she could find. A few kids were outside playing in a homemade slip and slide in the front yard of one of the houses across the street from the coffee shop. The bigger kids were riding bikes around, jumping them off the rounded corners of the ends of driveways in a follow the leader type of game. There wasn't a whole lot of traffic in the area since the main roads were a few turns off, giving the neighborhoods as much peace as they could get from the amassed rumbling of engines. The vein streets that connected one large part of the city to another were saturated nearly twenty four hours a day, and some of the unluckier people that lived on the corners of these streets constantly told of their insomnia woes. Some people even tried to dampen the noise by soundproofing their walls, but it didn't do a whole lot to mask the noise of literally thousands of vehicles passing by. It wasn't all bad, though, seeing as having quick access to shuttle roads made it easy to get out and get where you needed to be without wasting too much time.  
Speaking of wasting, the thought of driving around aimlessly all day and not having to worry about talking to anyone or make decisions sounded good, but she knew better; wasting gas wasn't going to make her feel any better at the end of the day so why put it off? She turned left out of the neighborhood next to hers and a quick veering right brought her onto the street she used to live on. Her parents house was situated near the middle of the row and as she passed it she slowed down a little, taking a long look at the outside. It was in good shape, seeing as Gary was just as keen on making sure it looked nice as her dad was. He always made sure the lawn was mowed and hedges were trimmed, and that plus her mom's garden really made the house look like a cover piece for a magazine. The slow pace made her look kind of suspect, and with the jumpy neighborhood watch in that area she swept over the place one more time and then accelerated, looking back at the side deck through her rear view mirror. Trina was outside, on the phone as usual, pacing back and forth saying who only knew what. Most likely something about boys, it always was.  
Seeing her old house, after finally seeing Beck again, had helped to budge her in the right direction. She was starting to feel like leaving her old life behind wouldn't be as hard as she originally thought, but of course with things like that, you never really know until the time comes. Nevertheless she drove on and pulled out to one of the main roads with a lighter feeling in her heart than she'd had in a while, and for once she could easily smile and not feel like it was a lie. Her new found good mood was unexpected and she didn't want it to go to waste, so she decided to give Cat a call and see if she was busy. The bubbly redhead had a knack for making anyone around her feel better because of her innate ability to say funny things without meaning to. Her sense of childhood innocence hadn't gone anywhere with her teenage years and people somehow sort of felt like a kid again when she was around. Some of that comfort would be welcomed so Tori pulled into a convenience store parking lot and got her phone out to make the call.

"TORI!" Cat practically screamed into the phone when she answered it.  
"Hi Cat," said Tori with a laugh, "what are you up to?"  
"I was just sewing a new dress for school but I'm taking a break."  
"Not much. I just met with Beck for a coffee and now I'm driving around with nothing to do. Do you want to hang out or something?"  
"Yeah! I've been hanging out with my brother since no one has been talking and I could really use a little bit of time to myself."  
"OK, do you want to do something specific?"  
"How about we watch a movie or something at your house?"  
"Sure, I'll see you there in a little bit."  
"Kk, bye Tori!"

Cat hung up just as chipper as she answered and Tori could feel the muscles in her cheeks burning from smiling. They didn't seem to get used much lately but she was going to change that, and eventually the burn would go away like it was never there. The rest of the drive home was spent with the windows down and the music up loud, and she sang along with the song like she used to on the way to school. Trina hated it and she always threatened to leave her at home and make her find another ride but she never went through with it, and every morning Tori would sing at the top of her lungs all the way to the parking lot. She would get out and the group would be watching Trina with smiles, knowing that she was annoyed mostly because Tori was a way better performer than she was. Most people didn't say anything to her about though, aside from Jade, who never held anything back from anybody. Except for Tori.  
Katherine was still gone when she got home so she dropped the keys in the bowl and sat at the piano, lightly fingering the keys to find the starting position for one of the few songs she could sort of play. The notes started, a little choppy at first, then smoothing out to a nice flow after the first few bars. The warm sound of the piano filled up the room, occupying the space all the way up to the vaulted ceiling. It felt good to pay attention to her artistic side a little bit and get some of her frustration out in a safe and healthy way. There were a lot of ways that pent up aggression could get her in trouble now with her changed state, so having a relatively regular session with something calming like the piano would be a good way to keep those urges in check. She finished one song and was so entranced by playing again that she started immediately into a second one, her eyes closing as muscle memory took over. The thundering lows reverberated in her stomach and the octave-hopping highs tingled in her fingertips until that song too came to a close. The last note's sustain fizzled out into a calming silence that seemed to coat her body like bliss until she was knocked out of it by a knock at the door. She had momentarily forgotten that Cat was supposed to come over and hopped to the door to open it for her.

"That was lovely. Tori, correct?"  
Tori blinked rapidly a few times, not prepared to see who she saw."Yeah. Rebekah?"  
Rebekah nodded and switched her weight to her other leg and crossed her arms over her chest.  
"Katherine isn't here at the moment, I had some things to do today so she decided to go out on her own."  
"I know," said Rebekah, stepping forward a little bit, "and that's why I'm here."  
Tori looked behind herself into the empty house and then back at her unexpected guest, remembering a conversation she had had with Katherine about vampire etiquette. "Why don't we talk outside?"  
"How about you invite me in?" Rebekah looked back at her with a hard stare, unmoving almost like a statue.  
"This isn't my house, and I don't think it would be proper for me to invite a vampire in where he or she might not be wanted." She stepped out onto the porch and shut the door behind her. "So what is it I can do for you anyway?"  
Rebekah looked upset but also curious. Her body showed a very solid stance but her eyes kept darting around, looking all around the doorway for some reason why her compulsion didn't work. "Katherine can be...a bit difficult."  
"OK?" Tori was sort of confused since she hadn't seen anything like that with her, but she had also only known her for a little over a month while Rebekah had known her for hundreds of years.  
"I need a little reassurance that if she starts to buck, so to speak, that you can help me out with her."

Tori was about to ask her what she expected her to say, since she would obviously side with Katherine before she sided with her, but at that moment Cat pulled into the driveway and parked behind Katherine's car. Rebekah looked over her shoulder at the bright red addition to the situation and then back at Tori, clearly torn between trying to finish the conversation or just leaving. Cat skipped up to the porch and smiled hugely when she saw Tori, then turned to a look of curiosity when she looked at Rebekah.

"Hi Tori! Hi Tori's friend!"  
"Hello" said Rebekah, the look on her face clear that she wasn't used to that kind of energy.  
"I'm Cat. What's your name?"|  
"Rebekah, but I was just leaving. I don't want to impede."  
Cat looked sad for the space of a breath but bounced back right away. "Kk, nice to meet you!"

By the time Rebekah turned to leave she had a smile on her face that was a humorous mixture of amusement and sheer dumbfoundedness. Cat really did have that effect on everyone. Tori smiled and gave Cat a big hug, happy to hopefully reconcile with another member of the group. Two in one day would really be a pretty good accomplishment. They entered the house and Cat bounced around in the open space just as she did the first time, her head tipped back so she could take in everything all the way to the ceiling. She ran her hand across the piano and then made her way to the couch, sitting on the end that Katherine had laid on the night before. Tori took her normal spot and turned the TV on, changing it to On Demand so they could try to find something to watch. She knew that Cat was not the type of person to be into horror movies or anything like that, and she wasn't really one to enjoy the scares herself, so she played it safe in the Indie section. A funny looking movie called Middle of the Road was at the top of the list so she highlighted it and looked over at Cat, who shook her head enthusiastically. It was practically impossible to dampen her spirit.  
The movie had to do with a guy that was selling pot on the side of his normal summer job to make some extra cash, and what happened when he got the attention of a girl he liked and she got involved for money for school. It reminded her how easy it was for people to do things they wouldn't normally do in situations where money was easy and the exhilarating feeling of being able to have some freedom was so closely attainable. Most people completely overlooked the risks involved for a quick fix for their problems and usually ended up regretting it. There was no fix for Tori's problem, unless she somehow managed to get the cure and take it herself, which she figured would never happen even if she wanted it to. There were a lot of people looking for it for different reasons and all of them were older and stronger than she was. That said, there were still good things about being in her current situation, and one of them was being able to be with Katherine forever. She had finally found someone that returned her feeling as strongly as she gave them, and she didn't want that to go away any time soon.  
The movie played and Cat seemed to be enjoying it. She laughed along and even pointed out a few spots where she had heard of people at school doing similar things. Tori watched her and her animated responses were almost better than the movie. There was a part where the main characters were sitting in the car getting ready to go somewhere and Cat was about to start a story about her brother when the door popped open and Katherine entered. She looked tired and when she noticed Tori and Cat on the couch she perked up and walked over to join them. Cat patted the spot on the couch between them and Katherine smiled, taking a seat and grabbing Tori's hand. Tori wasn't sure if she'd seen the movie before but it was already over halfway through so if she hadn't there wouldn't be much point of trying to explain it, but Katherine didn't look like she minded. She leaned sideways and put her head on Tori's shoulder, breathing slowly and relaxing into position. Tori wondered why she looked tired but didn't want to ask in front of company in case it had something to do with their secret.  
Once the movie was over Cat even yawned herself and stood up to stretch, smiling when she noticed that Katherine had falling asleep against Tori with their fingers entwined. Cat pulled out her phone and rifled off a text as she walked over to the door, then put her phone away and got her shoes on. Tori's phone vibrated on the arm of the couch next to her so she opened it to read.

_Thanks for the movie! Call me soon xo -Cat_

She looked over to the door and Cat was on her way out as quietly as she could, turning with a smile and a quick wave. When the door clicked shut Tori cracked her neck and then took her turn picking Katherine up and carrying her upstairs to their bedroom. She sat on her side of the bed with her laptop again while her girlfriend napped, and she planned on just starting a playlist and relaxing for a little but but her phone going off put that on hold. Looking at the screen showed Detective Graham's name, and she immediately began to panic. If he was calling that must mean either they had something or they needed more answers from her. Either way, it was a situation she wasn't looking forward to being in. She got up quickly and went out into the hall to answer.

"Hello?"  
"Tori, it's Detective Rocky Graham. Do you have a minute?"  
"Yes sir, what can I do for you?"  
He took a deep breath before starting. "When I talked to your friend Beck today he told me something pretty interesting."  
Tori's heart was almost beating out of her chest and she tried a few calming breaths before she answered. "Oh really? What was that?"  
"Well apparently Miss West had a thing for you that you called 'bad timing.' Can you tell me about that?"

She was in between pissed and scared at the same time, since she had just seen Beck earlier and he didn't mention even talking to the Detective, much less that he said anything about their confrontation. "We had a talk once, on the day I told you about where everyone came over to my house. She said she loved me, and I told her that I was with Katherine and that if she would have said something before that it might have been a different story."

"What was her reaction to that?"  
"Upset, of course, anyone would have been. She didn't seem so upset that she would run off or anything though, so if I had anything to do with her leaving it's news to me. And I really hope that's not the case."  
Detective Graham cleared his throat and Tori could hear shuffling pages in the background. "OK then, that's all I have for now, but I'm going to need to see you again soon."  
Her heart dropped into her stomach. "Did I do something wrong?"  
"Well frankly I'd like to say no but of course, this is an investigation so I don't know yet. Based on you being her last call we got security camera footage from some of the local businesses in this area and one of the cameras caught her driving toward your house within an hour of the phone call."  
"What does that mean?" asked Tori, knowing full well what it meant.  
"You said she didn't make it there, so obviously either something happened to her in the neighborhood, or you weren't upfront with me."  
Tori tried desperately to think of a way out but she couldn't, and instead decided to end the call before something bad happened. "My girlfriend is waking up so I need to go, but what time do you need me to be at the station?"  
"Tomorrow around eleven."  
"I'll be there."

Tori shoved her phone in her pocket and went back into the bedroom, startled to see Katherine sitting up and looking her square in the eye. She looked sad, like she knew that Tori was stressing out and that they were probably going to have to make their escape within the next couple of days. She knew that Tori turning was going to be difficult for them for at least the first decade or so, especially since technology was constantly developing and cameras on the street now had facial recognition and all sorts of other things that could make life difficult for them, but they had to deal with it sometime. She just didn't expect it would be with a missing persons investigation right in their faces.

"What do you want to do?" asked Katherine.  
"I really don't know" said Tori, sitting on the edge of the bed. Katherine rubbed her back and turned so her feet were on the floor. "I've been thinking about it and I was wondering, would I be able to compel him to just write me off?"  
Katherine took a deep breath and exhaled. "It's not really that simple."  
"I didn't think so."  
"You could compel him to believe that you're innocent, but it doesn't change anything else around him. He's not the only one involved with investigation so if you were to get to him you would have to get to everyone else as well. Even then, you'd have to have someone falsify evidence for you and stuff like that. It's a lot of work."  
Tori's eyebrows were raised and she nodded her head curtly. "Sounds like you maybe have had the pleasure."  
"Not personally, no, but you think about stuff like that when you've been alive as long as me."  
"Well," said Tori, getting up from the bed with a quick slap to her knees, "I guess we're just going to have to see what happens tomorrow and go from there."

Katherine kissed her and got up to head into the bathroom and Tori decided that since she was on a roll that she would give Andre a call. He was her best friend and had been since pretty much her first day at Hollywood Arts, and it really wasn't characteristic of them to not speak for such a long time. They had texted once or twice to keep in the loop but other than the occasional how are you there wasn't much back and forth. She headed down the stairs and into the kitchen to grab a couple blood bags while she dialed, and by the time she got to the fridge he hadn't answered. His voicemail popped up so she decided to actually leave a voice message so he would have something to listen to when he got them time.

"Hey Andre it's Tori. I'm sorry we haven't talked in so long but with everything going on it's been kind of tough, I'm sure you know. When you get a chance call me or text or something and we'll get together. I hope you're doing OK."

There wasn't much left to do that day except to hurry up and wait for the next morning to come. Katherine joined her downstairs and they laid on the couch together and flipped through the TV, eventually deciding on a made for TV movie that involved a girl getting murdered by some of her friends. The main best friend that actually did the killing ended up moving into the mother of her dead friend's house, even staying in her old room. They watched it for maybe twenty minutes from the beginning before Katherine figured out what was going to pan out so she took the remote and changed it, and Tori didn't bother stopping her. There wasn't much else on so Katherine turned the TV off and got up, heading over to the piano and opening the key top. She sat down and cracked her knuckles, lightly going through a few scales to knock the dust off her skills. Tori got comfortable and turned on her side so she could watch, and as soon as the music started a smile plastered itself squarely on her face.  
Sound filled the room much as it did a few hours prior but it was more refined, more masterful than the sounds before. Katherine's fingers glided across the keys with amazing precision, playing a slow and melancholy tune that one might equate to the story of a sailor lost at sea. The lows would build up and crescendo, then tumble back down like the rise and fall of the tide, while the highs twinkled overhead like stars trying to guide him home. Tori closed her eyes and let the feeling wash over her as the song grew and changed, rising and falling like her lungs with each breath. The vibrant midtones reminded her of the snow storm her first day at the cottage and the way the wind whipped against the windows. The lows began to tremble again, bringing a vision of the dark storm clouds over the trees that lined the side of the structure and the way the sky seemed to be light and dark at the same time. She was brought back to the spot in front of the fire where she and Katherine had sealed each other's fate in the form of her first female kiss and it seemed as real in her mind as it was on that frigid night. Her body twitched and she squeezed her thighs together, the feeling of Katherine's chestnut locks running through her fingers tingling up her arms. Her breathing quickened and the pounding of the keys resonated in her bones from her head to her toes, blanketing every inch of her with seductive pleasure. The highs lead the way to the last song's climax and brought her along with it, an audible gasp escaping her lips as her back arched completely against her will. The sound died down to a few simple keys until it faded out completely, leaving Tori lying in a crumpled heap on the couch, her breathing short and labored.

"That was incredible" said Tori, through bursts of short breath.  
"I was hoping you'd enjoy it" said Katherine, walked over to the couch and sitting down next to her. She put a hand on Tori's knee and leaned forward, kissing her a few times between breaths. "I wanted to try to help you relax in a new way."  
"I didn't even know that was possible."  
"You can get a similar effect as a human, but it's nowhere near as strong as it is for us."

Tori's eyes rolled back into her head and she licked her lips, desperate for something to drink. The blood bags she had grabbed earlier were still on the coffee table so she grabbed one and tore it open, emptying almost the whole thing in a matter of seconds. She took in the last mouthful but didn't swallow it, instead grabbing Katherine's chin and pulling her forward, kissing her deep to swap the blood into her mouth. Katherine took it eagerly and kissed back with force, pinning Tori to the couch for the next few minutes. When they came up for air, so to speak, Katherine's eyes were wide and they shined like whiskey in a crystal decanter.

"You have no idea what you do to me" said Katherine.  
"Well I know exactly what you do to me" said Tori.  
"You do know that you don't actually have to breathe anymore, right?" Katherine smiled and poked Tori's left mini dimple.

Tori was floored. She'd completely forgotten about the fact that she was technically dead. She sat there for a minute without breathing, waiting for the collapsing feeling to start where she would have to gasp for breath, but it never came. Katherine had a huge smile on her face, like she was trying not to laugh, and Tori couldn't believe that she wasn't turning blue and, well, dying. She thought of all the possibilities that brought up. Being able to walk underwater for an infinite period of time. Being able to hide in small spaces without running out of air. There were a million things that it could be useful for, but before she could let herself get excited, she remembered that there had to be something about it that was bad, since it seemed to good to be true.

"You're gonna ask about the downfall, right?" asked Katherine.  
"Yes."  
"Well, you gotta remember that we interact with humans on a daily basis. If they see you sitting there not breathing for a substantial amount of time they're going to know something is off. The same thing goes for food and drink. It might taste terrible, but you have to go through the motions when people are watching."  
Tori nodded. "I suppose you're right. It is cool though, and I bet it helps out at some point."  
"Definitely."

Their moment was interrupted when Tori's phone rang again, and she thought maybe it was Andre so she didn't want to ignore it. She grabbed her phone and with a quick glance her good mood was ripped straight out of her stomach and thrown on the ground. The screen read Detective Graham again and Katherine figured out who it was just by the look on Tori's face. They looked at each other for a second and then Katherine nodded down at the phone, reminding her to answer it.

"Hello?"  
"Miss Vega," said Detective Graham, "I'm going to need to accelerate the timeline a little bit and ask you to come in this afternoon. Will that be a problem?"  
Katherine closed her eyes and bit her lip while Tori stood there speechless for a moment. "No, uh, that's not a problem. Can you give me half an hour to get myself in order?"  
"Sure, I'll see you in thirty."

He hung up and immediately after Tori started dialing another number; her dad.

"Dad?"  
"Tori, something wrong? You don't sound too good."  
She took a deep breath and spoke slowly. "Detective Graham called. He told me he wanted to meet tomorrow morning a few hours ago but he just called again and said that he needs me to be there today, now."  
David was silent for a moment and then he sighed a long sigh. "OK sweetheart, I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't go into that room without me, understand?"  
"Yeah."  
"OK, I love you."  
"Love you too."

Katherine grabbed her blood bag off the table and tore into it, draining it over the course of a solemn minute and then grabbing Tori's empty one to throw them away together. She crossed back into the living room and put her boots on, then grabbed the keys out of the bowl and twirled them around her index finger. Tori rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands and stood up wearily, stumbling a little around the coffee table as she made her way for the door. Katherine put her arm around her and helped her out to the car, opening the door and making sure she was settled before getting in herself. They made the trip to the police station in near silence, all except for the classical music playing through the car's stereo system. Traffic was a little worse at that time of day so what would have normally been a ten minute trip was a twenty five minute trip, and by the time they got there Tori's dad was waiting by the front door. He was still dressed in his uniform but it was obvious he wasn't as alert as he would normally be while on the clock, so Katherine guessed Tori caught him as he was on his way home.  
She parked the car and ran round to open Tori's door, lending a hand to help her out as she seemed to go through the motions without much gusto. When she saw her dad she perked up a little bit and kind of skipped over to him, landing firmly enough in his arms to audibly knock the wind out of him. He chuckled and patted her on the back, then kissed her on top of the head. She pulled away and the three of them walked into the station together, with Katherine intent on sitting in the same spot to wait as she did last time. The man at Reception looked confused to see David again but when he saw Tori hanging on his arm his face quickly changed to one of understanding. He paged Detective Graham on the radio and he was there within minutes, waving the two of them into the same room Tori was in before. She managed one look back and Katherine smiled as reassuringly as she could.  
The room seemed a lot smaller and more menacing than it did the first time around. Tori didn't know what to expect the first time so she went into it with a sort of indifference, but this time, she knew full well what to expect, and it was even worse. The only reason they could be calling her in so urgently was because they found something solid out about Jade's car, like maybe where it was or if someone saw her driving it. She remembered that Katherine never actually told her what she did with it when she left to 'get rid of it,' so there could be a chance that it had turned up somewhere. The lights were the dim yellowish fluorescents that reminded of old fashioned television, and the shade gave her a headache. David sat down next to her and patted her knee reassuringly, garnering a look of suspicion mixed with professional curiosity from Detective Graham. The first few minutes in the room was spent by the Detective getting all of his papers ready and when he was finally all set, he put his pencil behind his ear and turned his attention to them.

"David."  
"Rocky."  
They nodded at each other but that was the extent of their formalities.  
"Miss Vega," said Detective Graham, "we pulled the security tape from the Stop 'N Go convenience store around the corner from your house. Our tech department reviewed it, looking for a-" he stopped and looked through his notes, "-green two thousand and twelve Acura."  
Jade's car flashed in Tori's memory. She remember when Jade first got it, how happy she was that she didn't have to drive the hoop-d that had broken down on her twice anymore.  
"We canvased the area and her own neighborhood and we got someone next to the store that says they remember seeing her car driving in the direction of your house within an hour of the phone call to you, and the video from the store verifies that."  
"So what does that mean, then?" asked Tori.  
"Well it means that we're going to do some thorough searching in your area. Go door to door again with a photo, see if anyone saw anything. Run through some more security footage, talk to the parents again. Talk to the friends again." He looked right into Tori's eyes as he said the last part, and apprently it was too coarse for her dad.  
"Alright Rocky."  
He nodded to David like he took the hint and straightened up the papers in front of him. "So now, is there anything you can remember that you might have left out before? Any names, dates, anything specific about Jade that you think might help us find her?"  
"I told you what I know" said Tori, tapping her feet on the floor. "It's like I said before, Jade and I didn't really get along for the most part so we didn't talk much. The only things I really knew about her were surface things that anyone could tell you. She liked to wear black and big boots and she thought it was funny when people hurt themselves."  
Detective Graham wrote on his pad for a second and then reseated the pencil behind his ear. "OK then. I guess we're going to keep going through what we have and see if we can find anything else out."  
"You know my number" said Tori.  
"Yes I do," said the Detective, "yes I do."

Tori and her dad headed back out through the bullpen and into the waiting room. Katherine stood up immediately and brought Tori into a hug. David stood back a little while they had a moment but as soon as they broke apart he pushed both of them out the door as quickly as he could. Tori could tell that he was antsy and wanted to talk but he couldn't do it within earshot of anyone at the station, so he ushered them outside into the parking lot and didn't say anything until they were all the way over to Katherine's car.

"Anything you need to tell me, honey?"  
"No, dad I already told Graham everything I can."  
"It looks like he thinks you're guilty or something" said David. "I'm not sure what he has up his sleeve but I'm going to stay as close to this as I can. And like I said before, don't go anywhere in this police station without me."  
"I won't, I promise."

He kissed her on the head and went for his own car while she and Katherine got into the Audi. Katherine started it up and sat still for a minute, not sure of what they were going to do next.

"Anywhere in particular?"  
"Just home," said Tori, "I just want this day to be over."

**A/N: These first couple of chapters have been a bit of a building timeline to set up where the rest of the story is going to go. I wanted to kind of refresh the surroundings and use some visuals to bring the old readers back into the world without having to invest too much time into rereading the other story if they don't want to. It'll pick up next chapter for sure, and if you're along for the ride, thanks for coming.**


	4. Separate Problems

It seemed like it didn't make a difference what she said, Detective Graham was gunning after her in Jade's investigation. His years of experience had led him to believe that the circumstances during the time right before Jade went missing were similar to a lot of cases he'd seen before, and in those particular cases, the person in her situation was guilty, so naturally he was digging hard in her direction to try to find something solid. It didn't really help that the group had sort of fallen apart; it made all of them look guilty to a degree since they weren't actively trying to make contact with each other. That said, she _was _trying to get back on good terms with everyone, so that was a mark in the positive column. The only people left that she hadn't spent some time with were Andre and Robbie, and she was hoping to get a hold of the former sooner rather than later. She missed her best friend more than anyone, mostly because he was the one she was most comfortable around. They knew each other's secrets and hopes and fears, which made it easier to talk about the hard things since if they didn't really feel like saying something out loud they usually didn't have to, since the other was able to feel it out and continue on. She was looking forward to taking solace in his company, if he would ever call her back.  
The ride home from the police station was slow going and it was starting to get dark. LA sunsets were known to be some of the best in the world, and anytime she was outside to see it, there was no questioning why. Something about the soft pastels of evening turning into a blazing fireball of orange and purple was calming, all the way down to the core. There was a sort of cleansing feeling in the death and rebirth of the day; although she had experienced her literal, albeit metaphorical for all intents and purposes, death, she would still wake up in the morning and continue on. Her unique position made it possible for her to see and experience things that not many people would in their lives. The existential changing of times, for instance. She no longer adhered to the rules of the universe, which granted her the opportunity to see how society would change over dozens, maybe even hundreds or possibly thousands of years. Katherine had told her stories over their time together, while they lay with fingers intertwined under the covers, depicting life as it changed with each passing century. The change of fashion, politics, music. It was all so fascinating to hear about but now she was actually going to _experience _it, and the primordial cycle of rest was an exciting reminder.  
Tori decided on just hopping in the shower and going to bed by the time they got home, even though it was barely eight o'clock. Usually she was pretty good with the whole early to bed early to rise thing, but human ritual didn't really apply to her anymore. She still got tired, sure, but it wasn't the sort of tired that most people got, at least it didn't used to be. Her guilt and had gotten the best of her for the first week or so to the point where she felt so weighed down that it was hard to get out of bed. After that she started to feel better, lighter, and because of that fatigue didn't really set in the way she had always expected it to. When Detective Graham started calling again, the old feelings fell back into place and she once again found herself almost glued to their bed. Eventually they would get away, though, and things would be different. Once the pain of losing everyone was gone she would be free to discover her new self and her life with Katherine, but she had to be careful about hoping for that day to come fast, lest she skip precious time with people in the present.  
Katherine had been watching Tori's progress from the day she had taken Jade's life. At the time she was out of town but she came back as soon as she got the call and assessed the situation the whole way back. She knew Tori was a fragile person on the inside and that the guilt of her first kill, one of her friends no less, was going to crush her to the point that her humanity switch was in danger of being flipped, and she wasn't going to let that happen. Stefan had gone through twenty odd years of being a ripper; she didn't want Tori to even understand what that meant for at least another fifty years. There would be times where she couldn't protect her of course, but during the time she had procured the daylight ring with Tori by her side, she swore to herself that she would do whatever it took to keep her safe the best she could. Outside dangers were one thing, but internal dangers were a whole other animal altogether. She could be of a lot more use if someone was attacking them physically as opposed to Tori attacking herself mentally. The past few days had seen a lot of that, and the wear and tear was beginning to show.  
The morning after a sleepless night was always a struggle for Tori. She was slow to get up and even slower to move, most of the time falling asleep in the shower for a little bit and only waking up when the cold water shocked her back to reality. By the time she had finished getting ready and went downstairs Katherine had laid out a blood bag for her and was sitting on the couch mindlessly flipping through the channels. She looked up when Tori made it down the stairs, only tripping once, and smiled at the big mess of a girl she had fallen in love with.

"Morning" said Katherine.  
"Yeah" said Tori, falling next to her on the couch. "I don't think I can handle being a person today."  
"I have those days, too. We can just stay in or something if you want."  
"I want."

They had snuggled into each other with the idea of finding some bad made for TV movie that would occupy their time for a little bit, but an alarmingly loud knock threatened to break their door down. Katherine kissed Tori on top of the head and went to answer it.

"We need to talk" said Rebekah, looking clearly scared and very on edge.  
"About what?" asked Katherine.  
"Hi" said Damon, poking his head around the left side of the door. "Got any bourbon?"  
Katherine sighed and looked at Rebekah with annoyance. "Why?"  
"Like I said, we need to talk."  
"I'm not inviting you in."  
Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Well then move your ass and meet us out back."

Katherine shut the door in their faces and turned to get Tori, who was already standing, look much more alert than before. She looked worried, like whatever was about to come their way was just going to pile on top of everything she was already dealing with and the added weight might break her. Katherine moved away from the door and grabbed her hand as she passed, leading her through the kitchen on the way to the back door. Rebekah and Damon sat on the chairs outside with their backs to the water, looking up when the girls passed through and joined them. Damon looked rough, as if he had been traveling for a long time. Rebekah, while still looking perfect as she always did, seemed like she was desperate for something, and that was a look that Katherine hadn't seen in a very long time.

"So what's going on?" asked Katherine.  
"Your BFF Klaus decided that he was going to 'ramp it up' a little bit in our humble town of Mystic Falls." Damon rolled his eyes and used air quotes to show his disdain. "He's decided on taking one pretty, innocent victim from Mystic Falls High every day until Katherine turns over the sword to him."  
"Why would he think I would care about that?" asked Katherine, her eyes flickering between Damon and the waves crashing into the beach on her right.  
"He said something like 'she's found love, and love does the damndest things to even the most vile of creatures'."

It was true, and Katherine was suddenly really worried. Before she met Tori she wouldn't have cared at all about kids from the high school being torn apart by Klaus, but with the way Tori had made her way into every part of her being, the ability to wave off the plight of others was unfortunately tossed out the window instead. Damon stared at her intently, like he was waiting for her to be the same old bitchy Katherine that she had always been and say that Klaus was crazy and that she didn't care at all. The scary part was that she couldn't consciously say that anymore, and that would most likely have bad consequences for everyone involved.

"Well I guess I'm going to have to give it to him" said Katherine, crossing her arms over her chest.  
"Told you" said Rebekah, extending her hand out to Damon like she expected payment.  
"Thanks Katherine, making me lose the damn bet." He passed over a one hundred dollar bill to Rebekah, who took it with a smile and tucked it in her bra. "You know, ever since I've known you you've done nothing but fuck me over in some way. That's serious bullshit."  
"And yet you still keep coming to me for something" said Katherine, turning to Tori with a quick wink. "What's the idea, then?" asked Rebekah. "You're just going to go and give him the sword and that'll be it? He gets to create his hybrids and go on a killing spree?"  
"No, of course not" said Katherine, "I can't let him get what he wants. I've been running from him for five hundred years, even turned to keep him from killing me to get that army. Why would I want to help him get it now?"

Rebekah got up from her chair and pointed towards the water. "What do you think going and giving him the sword will do? Do you think he's just going to put it somewhere for safe keeping and maybe decide that he 'doesn't feel like it anymore'?"  
"Obviously not, do you think I'm stupid?" Damon opened his mouth to speak but Katherine held up her index finger. "Don't even."  
"Then what's the plan?" asked Tori, stepping up from behind her. "I know I'm kind of in a tight spot right now but if you let me in on what you're thinking I might be able to help."  
"What kind of tight spot?" asked Rebekah, suddenly looking interested.  
"I'm being investigated for murder because of Klaus" said Tori.  
Damon raised his eyebrows and scrunched up his mouth in his way of wordlessly saying he understood what she was going through and Rebekah closed her eyes with a deep sigh. "He really is a fucking tragedy on two legs, isn't he?"  
"Pretty much," said Katherine, "which is why we need to put an end to this charade instead of just postponing it again." Katherine paced a little on the back deck, smiling at Tori when she turned in her direction. "Damon, why don't you take a walk for a second. You and Tori can go get to know each other better."  
"What for?" asked Damon, looking at Tori with confusion.  
"Do you want Klaus to compel you and ruin everything?"  
He sighed with annoyance and got up. "Come on Barbie number two, let's take a hike."

Tori hopped down the steps and took stride next to Damon, who looked pretty annoyed to not be in the conversation that was happening back at the house. He sulked a little bit but she thought the moodiness added a sort of _je ne sai quoi_ to him. Once they were far enough away from the deck that they couldn't hear the conversation he stopped and turned toward the waves, folding his arms with a blank stare out at the horizon. She knew that he had been around for a little while himself, over a hundred and fifty years, and she wondered how his version of the things that had happened over time differed from Katherine's. They seemed to be roughly the same age at the time they turned, and they were both pretty young, so where they were in the world would have heavily influenced the way they saw things. It also seemed, by the way he looked at Katherine and what he had said before, that they maybe had something at one point between them that didn't work out so well. She knew full well what that was about, and she couldn't imagine what it was like for them to have to see each other occasionally for the rest of time after something so awkward. Even so, she couldn't help but think that she would rather endure that awkwardness with Jade forever than have the reality she did at the present time.  
Damon didn't look like he was going to make any sort of effort to communicate with her so she didn't bother sticking to his side, instead going to the edge of the water. She kicked her flip flops off and stepped in until about her knees, tipping her head back with her eyes closed. The breeze off of the water was always so calming, no matter what time of day it was. The inner city had a polluted air about it, literally, so being out in the open of the beach with the fresh ocean winds was a welcome change. Birds flew low over the water and skimmed their wings while the noise of the Pier chimed in the distance. The sound of laughter and the ringing bells from all the different games carried on the wind to her ears, reminding her that no matter what was happening with them, the world would continue to go on. While it wasn't a particularly startling revelation it did remind her that their situation at hand was pretty serious, so she decided to make her way over to Damon and try to talk strategy.

"What do you think the plan will be?" asked Tori.  
"Couldn't tell you, sister" said Damon, spitting into the sand and scratching his nose. "Whatever it is I hope this shit with Klaus is over soon."  
"I'm with you on that one."  
"Right, with your 'situation'" said Damon. "What brand of Klaus' evil were you on the end of?"  
"He made me kill one of my friends to complete my transformation, since if I didn't he was going to torture and kill her in front of me before I died."  
Damon shook his head slowly. "Sometimes I wonder how exactly fucked up in the head he is, but then I figure I don't really want to know."  
"Any tips on getting out of a murder investigation?" asked Tori, a nervous laugh squeaking out at the end.  
Damon sized her up and looked into her eyes for a few seconds. "Where's the body?"  
She pointed her finger out to the waves. "Dusted into the ocean."  
"Evidence?"  
"I was her last phone call and security footage from a store up the road has her coming this direction right after the time of the call."  
He chewed his lip and thought for a second, nodding to himself. "Where's the car?"  
"Katherine said she took care of it."  
"Well, no car, no body, circumstantial evidence. Sounds like you should be fine pretty soon."  
"You think?" asked Tori, feeling her heart speed up and her chest lighten at the words.  
"Sure. Just watch what kind of moves you make for a while so they don't try to drudge up a reason to actually arrest you. Cutting through that red tape could keep you locked up for weeks or even longer."  
Tori smiled and nodded. "Thanks, that makes me feel better."

A sharp whistle carried down from the direction of the house and when they turned to look Katherine was waving them back. Damon pulled at an invisible collar around his neck and barked like a dog, making Tori laugh out loud. The rare feeling of lightness and laughter had a smile plastered on her face all the way back to the house. Katherine looked suspicious when they arrived since he was smirking and Tori was outright beaming, but before she could say anything Damon cut her off.

"Relax, I didn't do anything that would be considered inappropriate. Well, actually-"  
"He just gave me advice on how to keep myself out of prison" said Tori, curbing his ability to annoy Katherine further.  
"Well, thanks I suppose" said Katherine. "We got everything figured out here so we'll be good to go pretty soon."  
"Go."

Tori said the word softly and Damon and Rebekah took that as their cue to go. Rebekah smiled at her as she passed and Damon nodded like people used to when they would tip their hat. Once they were out of sight Katherine grabbed Tori's shoulders and led her to a chair, kneeling down next to her with their hands locked together. She searched her eyes and smiled, noticing the way her caramel colored irises still gave her butterflies. Tori smiled back but it was sort of melancholy, like she was doing it because she should instead of because she couldn't help it.

"I'll only be gone for a little while, I promise" said Katherine. "I would love nothing more than for you to come with me but with the investigation-"  
"I know," said Tori, "I need to stay here to keep up appearances."  
"This will give you some time to invite your friends over and spend some time with them, like you wanted to. Call the whole group and have them come stay over for a night or two. Build a fire out here, make s'mores or something." She winked at the last part and Tori couldn't help but giggle.  
"I will. It's not only that I can't go it's that I know how dangerous Klaus is, and even though you've been running from him for so long there's always a possibility..." Her voice trailed off and Katherine brought her into a hug.  
"I know, trust me. I'll be as careful as possible, and I'll call you every day that I'm gone. How's that?"  
"OK," said Tori, "and when you get back we'll go out for dinner or something."

It was Katherine's turn to laugh and then they kissed, living in the moment for as long as they could before she needed to break it off and go get ready. Tori leaned into her neck and took deep breaths, hoping to keep her essence close while she was away. Katherine slid her fingers up the back of Tori's shirt and raked her fingernails lightly across the skin, causing Tori to tense up for a second and press into her. She could feel emanating from Tori's body even in the slight chill of the breeze and knew that they were about to hit a certain level of intimacy that she needed to avoid, so she stepped backwards and grabbed her face, giving her one last kiss on the lips before letting go completely.

"I love you."  
"I know" said Tori.

She decided to stay out on the porch while Katherine went inside and packed a bag, only going inside when she heard the sound of car doors. It was going to be a long little while, however long or short it actually was. The days already seemed longer than usual and with no one there to keep her company she felt like there was big potential for going stir crazy. A quick look at the TV showed people walking through the city hand-in-hand and it reminded her of Katherine's idea to get the group together. It had really been too long since they'd all slept over at one of their houses so she figured that maybe they would be into coming over for a while. Her hands were sort of shaky from her goodbye with Katherine so she went into the kitchen and grabbed a blood bag and set it out on the counter to warm up while she sent a mass text.

_You guys up for staying at my house tonight? Katherine is out of town and she suggested that we break this little untold vow of silence we've had lately. -T.V._

Robbie and Cat texted back at the same time since they were hanging out together and they both said yes, followed by Beck and then a curiously long wait for Andre. He said he would try to make it but no promises, and that kind of made her feel bad. Was he trying to avoid her for some reason? It wasn't really like Andre to give excuses or play people off, since usually if he couldn't hang out he would tell them why and make plans for another time. Lately he seemed to be a little standoffish to her, and it made her wonder if he was like that with everyone else as well. Getting the run around from your best friend wasn't really a good feeling.  
The plan was to have everyone gather around early afternoon, which was still a few hours away, so Tori grabbed the blood bag off the counter and made for the door, electing to drain her breakfast and go for a walk. When she got on the front porch she noticed the Audi was still in the driveway, so she looked in the bowl by the door and the keys were there. Thinking that Katherine would probably have Rebekah and Damon drop her off somewhere so she could steal a car and leave theirs for Tori made her smile and suddenly she was in the mood to go for a drive instead. Once the car was started she cut out a slit in the bag with her teeth and drank, turning onto the main road with no particular destination in mind. In a normal situation she would have decided on going to get something to eat but since food held no meaning to her anymore she would have to find something else to do, which usually meant the movies. Thankfully for her it was a weekday and even in the summertime the theater was pretty empty on weekdays, so she would be able to relax and enjoy something in peace.  
The long way to the movie theater took a pretty untraveled route to the upper westside of the city. There wasn't really much in that direction besides warehouses and self storage units, so naturally, there was a large homeless population. They would break into the units until they found empty ones and then scavenge a few things from the ones they had broken into that weren't empty, like furniture and books and whatever else they could their hands on. It wasn't particularly smart for anyone to be driving that direction by themselves, but she knew that her newfound defenses and strengths would keep her safe should anyone try to ambush her car, although that was unlikely. The last turn that eventually melded back onto the main road went straight by that part of town's skid row, and the sights were just as depressing as always. Shopping carts on the sidewalk filled with clothes and personal items. Cardboard propped up under the overpass to create what little privacy they could with dirty mattresses to keep them off the ground. Seeing the desperation in people's faces as she drove by in her model year luxury car made her feel bad, and she made a mental note to do something for them someday.  
Just as expected the theater was practically abandoned and she got to sit back and enjoy a random comedy that involved two people looking to get out of town after a drug deal gone bad. Their situation was so easily preventable, had they access to options like compulsion as she did, but their being normal was what made the story work. The thought of how many things in history could have been changed if the people involved could have compelled their way out of something, or into something, was certainly fascinating, as well as the counter thought of what things actually did or didn't happen because of compulsion directly. There were a lot of things that could probably be explained way better if historians knew about the hidden world around them.  
On the way back to the car Tori got a text from Andre saying that he would be able to make it, he would just be a little later than everyone else. She was happy to at least hear from him, much less him actually saying he would be there. She sent one back saying "see you soon" with a smiley face and decided on just heading back home to wait on the group. The way back was a little slow since she took the main route, and of course the amount of traffic was at least double, making the longer route the shorter one on most occasions. It was times like that she understood why a GPS had both shortest distance and fastest arrival time. By the time they had started to finally get moving the album she'd started on her iPod at the theater was almost over and getting ready to start into the next. It was some light jazz piano that Katherine had put on there for her, saying that if she ever missed her or just needed to relax that it was her favorite for those moments and she thought it would help, and it did, until the unmistakable sound of metal impacting metal exploded into her eardrums.  
A few cars in front of her someone being pursued by the police had blown through a stop light and t-boned one of the cars that were beginning to move through the intersection. The sound was so loud and awful that it pulled at the pit of her stomach, and she got out immediately to see if she could help. The police had caught up and stopped on the outer ring of the intersection and were advancing toward the suspect vehicle with guns drawn. Some of the ones that hung back at the perimeter were on radios, most likely ordering an ambulance and backup to control the crowd. Tori ran to the car that was hit and now lay upside down on the far side of the intersection. The door was ripped off as it rolled over and landed near the candy shop on the corner and the people trapped inside looked to be unconscious. A man was driving with a woman in the passenger seat and a dog in the back, which the dog was able to make its way out and was sitting on the corner waiting.  
Inside the car the woman was stirring but the man was still out, and upon further inspection Tori realized he was dead. She swung around to the other side of the car and pulled the seatbelt out of the clasp with pure strength, then grabbed the woman's shoulders and slid her out through the window. When she got her on her feet she walked her to the sidewalk and sat her down on a bench where the dog jumped up and laid its head on her lap. She patted its head subconsciously but her eyes were glued to the car, and the man's lifeless body. Her face was covered in blood from a gash on her head and the sudden notice of the sticky red lifeforce had Tori's limbs tingling. The smell overpowered everything else and the sight of it continued to light a fire in her veins, to the point that she had to back up a few paces and cover her nose with the back of her hand. The ambulance came speeding onto the scene and as soon as she saw it she rounded the corner and ran back to the car, jumping in and locking the doors as quickly as possible. The woman turned to watch her go but she couldn't say anything due to shock and Tori was thankful for that; she couldn't bear to hear the thickness of tears in her voice.  
She backed her car up just enough to be able to pull an illegal u-turn in the middle of the road and went back home the way she had come, the woman's face still fresh in her mind. She looked confused, wondering why this horrible thing had happened to her and not someone else. Tori assumed most people thought the same thing when something like that happened but no one ever seemed to have an answer besides fate. Was it fate that had her in her current situation, being undead and the murderer of one of her friends? Surely so, since if someone would have told her that would be her life a few years ago she would have thought them a creep and gotten as much distance from them as possible. It was funny how such small things could change a life in the biggest ways. The butterfly effect really was something extraordinary.  
With the movie and the wreck it was after noon by the time she got home and within half an hour she received a text from Cat saying that her and Robbie were on the way. She was glad that she would have someone to be with her for at least a little while, especially people that she cared about and missed. The house always seemed empty even with her and Katherine in it together, so for just one person it was like a giant reminder that you were alone. She wondered how Katherine lived there by herself when she was in the area, but then remembered that she was probably used to it, having been by herself for literally hundreds of years. Thinking about people coming over had sparked a memory from somewhere deep in her brain that reminded her they hadn't had time to go shopping so there was virtually no food in the house except for liquids, so she grabbed the keys again to head down to the corner store and get some snack food. Couldn't have friends over without junk food, and what would they say if they raided the kitchen and found nothing? Appearances.  
The man behind the counter eyed her as she walked through the door, but it was in more of a suspicious way than a sexual way. That store had been robbed a few times, once since she'd moved in, and the owner was typically skiddish about every person that entered. She smiled and waved at him to show that she was non-combative and only wanted to patronize his business and he seemed to take her non-verbal word for it, slinking back into his chair with a magazine. The store wasn't very big but it had all of the essentials that you could need without going to the grocery store, albeit at a higher price. She grabbed chips, donuts, stuff for s'mores and a handful of gatorades and stuffed them in the basket. A quick trip down the candy isle for gum and chocolate for Cat led her straight to the counter and the large graying beard of the owner.

"$34.74" said the owner.  
Tori pulled out a fifty dollar bill and handed it to him. He looked at her and then back at the bill, lifting his glasses and raising it to his eyes. Tori scoffed and rolled her own eyes, waiting for him to finish.  
"OK then." He gave her back change and bagged her items without saying a word, and she grabbed them and left still silent as well.

When she got back home Cat and Robbie were waiting on the porch. Cat was pointing at the house across the street, drawing lines and other shapes in the air like she was trying to explain something. Robbie looked on with interest, as he always did when she was talking, and Tori couldn't help but notice they looked cute together. She pulled into the driveway and Cat jumped off the porch as soon as she saw her, bounding towards the car like a lonely pet.

"Tori!"  
"Hi Cat." Tori got out of the car with bags in hand and as soon as Robbie saw them he headed over to take them.  
"Thanks for having us over" said Robbie, following the others through the front door. "Cat and I have both kind of been wondering if everyone was going to fizzle out go their own ways. Would have been kind of sad if that happened before high school even finished."  
"Yeah it would" said Tori. She dropped the keys in the bowl and led them into the kitchen where Robbie dropped the bags off on the counter. "I saw Beck and Cat and I just figured instead of doing it separately we should all just get together and hang out like we used to."  
"Well I for one am glad to get out of the house" said Cat. "My brother stopped taking his medication again and he's been keeping me up all night making weird animal noises in the hallway."  
Tori laughed while she put the gatorade in the fridge. "What exactly is wrong with him, anyway?"  
"My mom said nothing is wrong with him, he's just different than everyone else and we should all be that lucky."  
"I don't think _different_ really covers him" said Robbie.

They left most of the stuff on the table to go outside and enjoy the warm afternoon. Robbie walked down to the water and Cat and Tori stayed a little up the beach, marking off a spot close to the house where they could have their fire later in the night. Tori drew a circle with her toe to mark where they were and looked down the beach for driftwood. Robbie turned around and she waved him in, thinking of sending him down to look under the Pier and she and Cat would go the opposite direction to cover more ground.

"We need wood for the fire," said Tori, "so Robbie if you that way Cat and I will go this way and we'll meet back in a little bit."  
"Sounds good to me" said Robbie, setting out for the Pier.  
Once he was out of hearing distance Tori tucked her hair behind her ear and then grabbed Cat's hand. "So you and Robbie. What's that like?"  
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Cat, looking distressed.  
"I just meant that you guys look like you're together or something" said Tori. "I was just wondering if you're boyfriend and girlfriend or if it's just friends."  
"Oh. Well, I don't know, really. It's kind of complicated."  
"I know how complicated can be, trust me."  
"I mean, we like each other, and since...well, we've been keeping each other company and I guess you could say we've gotten pretty close."  
"I know he's liked you for a long time, so I'm sure he's happy about that."  
"If he's happy then I'm happy." Cat smiled her big bubbly smile and Tori couldn't help but mimic it.

They searched up and down the beach for a while and met back at the circle in the sand with an armful of sticks. Robbie had already come back and had a pretty impressive pile stacked up, including a nice chunk of log that would burn for a while. Tori and Cat dumped their sticks onto the pile and Robbie set to building the base, shoving medium sticks into the sand so they crossed each other and then piling a small amount of kindling in the middle underneath. When he was finished they dug out a a circle around the sticks and logs just for good measure and then admired their handy work. Sound from behind them alerted a new presence and when they looked Beck and Andre were both coming down the beach toward them.

"Hey guys" said Tori, reaching out to hug each of them. "Andre, glad you could make it."  
"Wouldn't miss it, chica."  
"I was worried since you said you were gonna be late."  
Andre nodded and put his arm around Tori's shoulder. "Yeah, I've been real busy this summer. Cutting my album, doin' publicity, live performances when I get a chance. It's been pretty hectic."  
"Sounds like fun, though. I hope you're getting everything out of it that you want."  
"And that's why you're my best friend."  
Tori couldn't seem to get the smile off of her face. "What do you guys say we go for a swim or something?"  
"I'm in" said Beck, throwing his shirt randomly in the sand and running straight for the water without waiting.

Andre and Robbie were right after him since they already had shorts on and Tori and Cat went inside to change. As soon as they came out they were being waved into the water, and they looked at each other with equal smiles. They ran out and dove into the waves to join their friends, splashing and laughing together for the first time in what felt like a hundred years. Andre put Tori on his shoulders and Robbie put Cat on hers and they did a tug of war, with Tori eventually winning due to her size. Cat was pretty small so Tori being taller she had the advantage. Everyone kind of drifted around and did their own thing after that, bobbing along with the waves. Tori looked around and realized she was in about the same spot they were in when Jade had confessed her feelings, and the memory felt like a snake winding around her stomach. It seemed to be reflected in her face since Beck made his way over to check on her.

"You OK?"  
"Yeah, I just...I wish it was different" said Tori.  
"Me too" said Beck.

Their understanding didn't require anything else to be said so they just bobbed in the waves next to each other, comfortable in silence.  
After everyone was sufficiently pruny and hungry from fighting the tide they made their way back onto the beach and got the fire going. Tori went inside and brought out the stuff for s'mores and set up the small laundry table they used the last time to put everything on. The boys instantly tore all the packaging open and started making some, almost like they were wild animals that hadn't eaten in days. Cat and Tori both laughed and waited until the initial rush was over to grab theirs and everyone sat in a circle, toasting their marshmallows to gooey perfection. The oncoming night brought winds that bit, especially since everyone was still damp, so finished her first s'more and left it on the table so she could go inside and grab towels. When she crossed through the living room she heard her phone ringing from the couch, so she stopped to fish it out of the cushion and see who it was. Detective Graham.

"Tori, busy day?"  
"What does that mean?"  
"Put the news on."

He waited while Tori turned the TV on and set it to channel twelve. She saw the accident from earlier in the day and watched as she saw herself pull the woman out of the car and set her on the bench. As soon as the ambulance moved into frame she ran off and got into her and drove off.

"I don't understand" said Tori.  
"Traffic cameras," said Detective Graham, "we evaluate all footage in the even of an accident to see who is at fault for insurance purposes."  
Tori remembered her discussion with Katherine about technology. "Oh. Well I was there and I saw the accident and everything, I would have felt bad if I just sat there and did nothing. The car could have exploded or something."  
"You're a curious young woman Miss Vega."  
"Well, uh, thanks? I guess."  
"Well I just wanted to thank you for your participation in helping out that woman. Not everyone would have done what you did and a good deed deserves to be recognized."  
"Sure" said Tori.  
"I'll let you get back to your night. We'll talk soon."

A click on the other end signaled the end of conversation.


	5. The Cure

Katherine rode in the back seat of Rebekah's SUV to LAX, where she was going to make her way through the long term parking area to find a car that suited her needs and had the parking ticket stashed somewhere inside. Humans always did small things like that that ended up getting them into trouble, like leaving valuables out in the open or keeping large amounts of cash on their person. She supposed it was what made them so beautifully flawed. That said, she checked her purse to make sure she had at least some cash on her to pay the parking attendant on the way out, since she preferred not to compel people when it wasn't necessary; things ended up getting messy that way. The ride to the airport was silent for the most part, mostly due to the fact that Rebekah and Damon didn't really like each other, and neither of them really liked her. It was awkward, of course, but they were all old enough to be able to sit quietly for a time and not bicker. Even so, when the airport came into view Katherine breathed a sigh of relief, ready to get into a vehicle by herself and let go of all the tension.  
As soon as the vehicle came to a stop she grabbed the sword and jumped out, saluting Damon as he leaned out the passenger side window. He nodded and Rebekah pulled off. The parking lot was jam packed the garage was full as well, giving her tons of choices of comfy rides for the trip. She used her speed to move up and down the rows from front to back, then made her way into the garage and went bottom floor to top. She had picked out a model year BMW M6 toward the back of the lot that had the ticket sticking out of the mirror flap on the driver's side visor, so she jumped off the top of the garage and made her way over to it. A quick minute with a slimjim had the driver's side door open with the alarm blaring, but her experience in hotwiring cars had the alarm off within seconds. No one seemed to be around in the lot so she saddled up and drove toward the exit, handing over the ticket to a half-asleep booth attendant that waved her sleepily through for an exchange of thirty dollars.  
The road was one of her favorite places to be out of anywhere she'd ever been in the world. It offered nothing but downtime to reflect and plan, something that needed to be done quite a lot when on the run from a supernatural psychopath with beast mode strength. Not only was Klaus fast and strong, he was smart and cunning, completing a package of swift, elegant death. He could talk his way through almost anything even without using compulsion and his age, not to mention his hybrid nature, put him many tiers above everyone else, even the rest of his family. The Mikaelson clan was their biggest ally in taking Klaus down, since they hated him as much as anyone, but Klaus' ability to sense danger in his direction was keen enough to almost be odd. Anytime someone had made up their mind to try and take him down, that person usually ended up literally torn to pieces behind a Thai restaurant, and those grisly images were enough to make most people forget about even trying. They had to try, though, if she was going to get her life back and keep Tori safe.  
After the first few hours of the trip the sun rose to peak height, blaring intensely through the windshield. Luckily she had grabbed a car with tinted windows or she was likely to cross the median and plow head first into oncoming traffic. Of course, that wouldn't matter much for her sake as she basically indestructible with things like that, but fleeing the seen and leaving an empty car would generate problems that no one needed. The stereo played back a playlist from her iPod that contained mostly solo piano pieces ranging from the 1500's up until the present day. It was relaxing to go from her earliest periods of life up to where she was now through the soft melody of song; music was such an important part of culture in her early life. The way it had changed over the centuries was a testament to all that she had seen and overcome with the changing of times, and each piece was able to bring her back to specific memories of people and places. One of the slower, more melancholy pieces reminded her so starkly of her first kill that she almost veered into the car in the lane next to her, quickly correcting the wheel with wild eyes. Getting pulled into vivid memories wasn't such a great idea when piloting a metric ton death machine.  
By mid-afternoon the burn of thirst started to scratch at her throat so she looked for signs of the next rest area exit. It took a little while but eventually the small blue sign read 'Rest Stop: 30 miles' and the thought of the warm, fresh liquid gold coursing through her allowed her to relax for the time it took to get there. She signaled and crossed over from the fast lane to the exit lane, slowing down to enter the rounded lines of the parking lot. There was a certain layout to the medians in the lot since tractor-trailors were meant to take the backside entrance where they could park and sleep, while the middle entrance was meant for rest stop guests and the left entrance was for people looking for fill up with gas. Katherine parked in the middle and made her way inside, instantly getting hit in the face with a dozen smells; coffee, cinnamon rolls, fast food and ice cream being a few of them. She made her way to the bathroom while her eyes roamed the different establishments. Hopefully there wouldn't be too many fast food gluttons; their blood was usually salty and thicker than it should be, and the taste wasn't nearly as divine.  
The bathroom was surprisingly cleaner than she expected it to be. The floors and mirrors shined in the hospital grade lighting like someone had just finished polishing them. There was one person in a stall and two others washing their hands. They made eye contact with her as she walked in and they both smiled silently, moving to the air dryer and paper towel dispenser to dry off and head out. She guessed they were traveling together by their body language and dismissed them as potential targets, which meant she was left alone with the woman in the stall. She waited for her to stand up and flush, and as soon as she stepped out Katherine grabbed her and pulled her into the handicap stall, quickly locking the door with her hand over the woman's mouth. She was a little taller than Katherine and probably ten years older, but she was very aesthetically beautiful. She wore little makeup but her features didn't require any more.

"Calm down," said Katherine softly, "this won't hurt a bit. Don't scream, and don't try to run."

The woman's head lolled to the side and Katherine scoped out the lifeline she had been craving, then went for it without hesitation. The sound of her teeth ripping through skin was like the zipper of a backpack for a fraction of a second, and then the moment she had been waiting for finally arrived. The dark red essence of the woman pinned to the wall flooded onto her tongue in earnest, being helped by the rapid beating of her heart. As always, like it could be counted on like clockwork, the blood squirted in rhythm of the woman's heartbeat, almost filling faster than Katherine could drink. The heat of the moment and rejuvenating properties of the blood coated her insides like smoke would a lung when inhaled, and her knees buckled at the overloading of her pleasure sensors. It was a struggle to force herself to stop but when she did she felt better than she had all day, instantly wide awake and ready for anything. The woman stared back at her with empty eyes as her neck bled and beads of blood rolled down her shoulder blade, but Katherine caught it with her tongue before it could stain her shirt. She grabbed some toilet paper and balled it up to dab at the woman's neck, instructing her wordlessly to hold it in place for a few minutes. She did so and Katherine pulled herself up to peek over the side of the stall, happy to see no one was there.

"OK, you're free to go. Toss that in the trash on your way out and if anyone asks, say it's a bug bite or something."

On the way out to the car everything seemed more vivid and alive. She was no stranger to desiccation with her stint in the tomb, but the scary fact was the effects of desiccation started within hours. Of course it took quite a while to get to the point where you were completely useless, usually it was about two weeks with no blood whatsoever that had a vampire totally unable to move or speak, but the lighter effects, like dulled senses and slower movement, began in the span of a day or two. There was nothing like the first few hours after a feed on fresh blood. It amped everything in the system, from eyesight to hearing to flexibility and the ability to problem solve on the fly. That said, most vampires chose to feed on a fresh body right before they had to do something important as to be the best they could be in the situation at hand, meaning Katherine was going to have to feed as soon as she crossed the line into Mystic Falls. There weren't a whole lot of places in the world that were really dangerous for her, but of them, Mystic Falls was number one.  
Back on the highway the soft hum of rubber on asphalt lulled her to a complacent relaxation, a state between boredom and tiredness that wasn't entirely either one. She would be able to snap to attention immediately if the situation called for it but she could also probably fall asleep within minutes, making that particular state pretty dangerous while on the road and with the task at hand. The sword was secure under the carpet in the trunk and since no one knew she was coming that could be compelled, there was a good chance she would be able to get into town and find a place to lay low before she ran into anyone. The thought of Klaus standing in the middle of the road at the 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' sign flashed in her head and in that image she slammed into him with the car at full speed, but it crushed like a beer can and she was ejected through the windshield while Klaus didn't move an inch. It seemed her subconscious was also aware of his supposed invincibility, but those thoughts were going to have to be put to rest if they were going to succeed in their plan.  
It was a forty hour drive clear across the country. Most vampires preferred to stay away from commercial flights and other things that required a lot of identification and cameras with facial recognition. It was more trouble than it was worth to have to try to forge documents and clean up messes with tons of compulsion. The worry that you might have missed someone and a story could be in the works, blowing up your past life to the whole world. Driving took longer, but it definitely had its advantages; anonymity, freedom and space. Plus, it afforded one to really see the world instead of just hovering over it for a few hours. Even so, driving got tedious after the first twelve hours, and a cross country drive that was only about a quarter of the way through. Katherine yawned, more out of habit than an actual bodily reaction, and decided to stop in a nearby town for a beer and a break from the road. The last sign mentioned a town called Santa Rosa being the next three exits so she decided to take one, hoping there was a decent bar near the on ramp.  
There wasn't a whole lot to choose from when it came to things close to the highway so she ended up entering a small dive bar with a burnt out sign that said 'Dave's.' The interior was very dimly lit and clouded with smoke. A jukebox hummed along on the back wall and groups of people took up the pool tables that lined along in front of it. TVs hung from the ceiling in some areas, one on SportsCenter and the other on a Pay Per View Boxing match. Most of the people in the establishment were crowded around one TV or the other, throwing back pitchers and chanting along with the fight. Each time one of the fighters would land a big punch one group or another would take a shot, showing clearly who they were rooting for to win. Katherine knew from being in many similar places that there was likely money on the fight and since alcohol was involved, there was most definitely going to be a more local fight after the viewing was over. She intended to get one drink and get out before that happened.  
The bartender stood towards the far right side of the bar, toweling off glasses as he scanned the patrons and the fight in a rhythmic fashion. He was obviously trying to watch for any signs that something was about to break off, and from the shotgun hanging on the wall next to him, he was pretty serious about that sort of thing. Katherine sat down in front of him and when his eyes landed on her he took a sudden interest, placing the last glass rim down on the counter and tossing the towel over his shoulder.

"Good evening, miss."  
"Hello," said Katherine, "I'll take a Bourbon. Neat."  
"Sure thing," said the Bartender, grabbing a bottle of amber liquid. "I've never seen you around here before."  
"Just passing through."  
"Is that so?" He poured the drink and slid the glass over to Katherine. "Where ya headed?"  
"Virginia." She took a sip and rolled it around in her mouth, "Nice finish."  
The Bartender smiled. "Private stock."

He slunk off and continued to do his menial tasks that signaled the end of a rush. Most alcoholics went to the bar around dinner time to drink their meal and that meant a good rush of people at the same time. The place wasn't very big and it seemed like he was probably the owner and the only one that worked there, so she imagined it could get pretty hectic for one person. One of the groups behind her erupted in cheer, one of the people accidentally knocking over the remains of a pitcher. The Bartender sighed and grabbed a bigger towel from under the bar and went out to help clean it up. The man that knocked it over swayed heavily and laughed as the Bartender cleaned up his mess, yelling a sloppy 'thanks' as he walked away. Katherine felt the urge to snap the guy's neck in front of all of his friends and just leave him there, but she obviously couldn't do that. Instead, she'd have to be a little more subtle, and as he lit up a cigarette she got an idea. The Bartender was getting ready to take the trash out so she caught eyes with him and signaled towards the back door, then got up, finished her drink and tapped the man that spilled the pitcher on the shoulder.

"Can I trouble you for one of those?"  
His eyes opened wide at the sight of her. "You sure can, angel. Only if I can get your number."  
"How about we go outside and share one, see what happens."

His friends all hooted and hollered as he got up from the table. They cleared the inside of the bar and went out the back door, the Bartender not far behind them. Outside Katherine accepted a cigarette and had him light it for her, trying to play the helpless pretty girl role. He watched her as she took a drag and blew out the smoke, closing her eyes at the burn in her lungs. His eyes turned hungry and he shifted his body towards her, leaning against the wall for support.

"What do you think about coming home with me tonight?" asked Katherine. The Bartender had slipped through the doorway and was standing in the shadows by the dumpster. The man spun around and did a fistpump type of move and Katherine looked back at the Bartender with a wink. "I sure could use the company of a strong man like you."  
"You bet, babe. But I'm feelin' there's a catch. What do you want from me? Besides my body, of course." He looked really pleased with himself after that one.  
"I just want you to go back in there and kiss your friend in the red shirt. On the lips."  
The man donned a horrified look and then it turned into a half-scowl-half-smile. "You're fuckin' with me, right? You gotta be. I ain't no faggot."  
"You'll do it for me though. Won't you?" Katherine asked as sweetly as she could with her eyes boring into his, the compulsion tingling through her arms.  
"Yeah, uh," the man looked confused for a second but then regained his resolve, "sure. Yeah, fuck it. It's just one kiss for a night with you, right?"

He stubbed his cigarette out on the wall and headed back inside. The Bartender hurried over to the doorway and watched as the man walked with purpose through the bar back to his table. He tapped his friend on the shoulder and motioned for him to stand up, and he did so reluctantly, looking around to try and figure out what was going on. As soon as he was standing the man wrapped his arms around him and crushed their lips together, squeezing a little too tightly because of the alcohol coursing through him. Katherine smiled hugely and the Bartender gasped, his hands on his head. The friend in the red shirt pushed the man off and promptly punched him squarely in the mouth, sending him, for lack of a better phrase, ass over tea kettle onto the floor. Everyone at the table jumped up and backed away, and as soon as the man stood up his friend punched him again. Katherine giggled, pure joy stemming from being able to give someone something they deserved. The Bartender looked bewildered and was standing still with his arms at his sides.

"Sometimes you gotta check people, you know?" asked Katherine.  
"I sure do, little lady. I sure do."  
She pulled out a twenty and handed it to him. "I gotta split. Thanks for the drink." She winked and disappeared around the corner, leaving the Bartender standing dumbfounded while the fight continued inside.

It was mostly dark by the time she left the bar but the burn from the liquid helped rejuvenate her as much as the blood did. She felt ready to drive through the night and hopefully make it to Arkansas by morning. Being away from Tori was something she didn't like, and the longer they were apart the longer it was apparent that she had become dependent on Tori, and the thought scared her. She'd never depended on anyone except herself for as long as she had been alive, and now, over five hundred years later, she was at the mercy of a newly turned eighteen year old. The sun finally did its last dance and disappeared behind the horizon and the glare was gone from her windshield. Headlights flooded the roadway in a harmony of blueish-white and tobacco-stain yellow. Occasionally a car on the other side of the road would be lit up with the dome light and people could be seen looking for something, which was most likely a dropped cell phone that feel between the seats. If there was one thing about humans that everyone knew, it was that no one could stand to be without their phone.  
Katherine drove through the night without stopping after the bar. There was a few times she saw exit signs with rest stops where she was tempted to stop and get someone to eat, but the more stops she made the longer it would take to get to her destination, which meant the longer it would be before she saw Tori and the longer it would be before everyone was hopefully safe from Klaus and his infallible rage. The song of the road was sufficient enough to lull her into a robotic driving state, one that kept her alert enough to steer straight but allowed her to wander off mentally and not be so locked down. The first thing her mind wandered to was a night on the beach with Tori. They had gone for a night swim and Tori had the idea to skinny dip, admitting bashfully that she had never done it before. Afterward they spent time lying on towels in the sand, looking for constellations with their fingers intertwined. It was the last time they really spent any quality time together before Jade's case got started and everything got messed up, so naturally it was the first thing on her mind when missing her girlfriend.  
By the time twenty four hours had hit the next feed was the only thing on her mind, so she stopped in a small town in Arkansas to do a quick in-and-out with one of the locals. Off the exit road was a shopping center that didn't look to be too busy since it was a work day and still mid morning, so she decided to park and head inside. There were a few soccer mom types that were doing the week's shopping, carts overflowing with cereal and sports drinks. Easy listening music played over the speakers and seemed to calm the shoppers like a mantra. Katherine turned down an isle that only had one person in it, and to avoid having someone catch her preying on someone unawares she decided to approach the woman as an old friend.

"Celeste! It's me, Katherine, from book club?"  
The woman looked around like she couldn't possibly be the one Katherine was talking to, but before she could say anything Katherine had bound her in a hug.  
"I'm sorry but I really don't remember you," said the woman.  
Katherine leaned back and looked her in the eyes. "Don't scream." She filled her mouth before swallowing to feel the pressure of it as it moved down her throat. The woman struggled a little but she held her in place without much effort. Through the barely open slits of her eyes Katherine saw someone round the corner and managed to look down before they made eye contact. "It's so good to see you, I didn't think I'd see anyone when I came back for a visit."

By the time she finished talking the woman had passed so Katherine stepped back and wiped her mouth off. The woman looked shocked but seemingly couldn't say anything. She felt her neck and looked at the blood on her fingers, then back to Katherine with the innocence of a small child. No one else had been down their isle yet but a quick glance up showed the big round security cameras that had pretty much become standard in the twenty first century. Katherine wiped the woman's neck off with her sleeve and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Don't tell anyone about this, you'll forget you met me and that this even happened as soon as I'm gone." The woman shook her head and Katherine dashed to the front of the store, aiming to get out of town quickly.  
This part of the country had different rules than pretty much any other part. They called it 'the Bible belt' because of the ludicrous amount of religious people and the extremes they took their faith to. She had seen many times over her years people that had risen to power in small towns and used the stories of the Bible to push whatever crazy agenda they had. She had gone through the South a few times during the slavery days and the treatment of people was something that even she couldn't really stomach. With the lot of things she had done in her life, that was really saying something. The monotony of the road was getting to her with each passing mile, seeing the same cars over and over except with different license plates, the same bland colors and the flat landscape surrounding the highway. She grabbed her phone and called Tori, hoping that maybe her liveliness would be able to drudge up some enthusiasm.

"Hey babe, how's the road?" asked Tori.  
"Ugh, so getting on my nerves," said Katherine. "How are you?"  
"I'm OK. Been lying on the couch watching TV. I miss you already."  
"Believe me, I miss you too. I'm trying to do this as fast as possible and get back."  
"Don't rush, I know how important it is and I don't want you to take unnecessary risks or anything. I'm not a slave to aging anymore, in case you forgot. We have all the time in the world."  
"You're right, but I still wish you were here." Katherine looked up at a billboard for birth control and chuckled. "Have you talked to the Detective any more?"  
"No," said Tori, a couple banging sounds in the background, "he hasn't called and I don't want to encourage him by calling him first."  
"That's good. Well I just wanted to check in and say I love you."  
"I love you too," said Tori, "hurry back."  
"I will."

The rest of the drive was the same as the rest of it had been. She stopped only once to feed and decided on draining some blood from her victim's wrist into a plastic bag that she could take into the car with her and use as an emergency stash. By the time she made it into Mystic Falls it was getting dark again, perfect for her plan of an unnoticed entry. There was a small house on the outskirts of town that she had purchased many years back but kept in someone else's name, a trick to ward off any potential seekers that didn't have her best interest at heart. She pulled into the driveway and shut the lights off as quickly as possible, moving into the house with her head down and the sword still secure in the trunk of the car. It was sort of dusty inside, mostly because no one had been there in a year or so, and the stale air made her choke a little. She opened the windows and let the breeze do its work, inspecting the different parts of the house gingerly. When she was satisfied that no one had been inside she turned toward the bedroom, looking for some much needed rest after the long drive.  
The next afternoon was pretty busy, with the first thing being a meeting with Rebekah and Damon. They had a little bit of a head start on her so they most likely had arrived a couple hours before and already had their rest as well. The idea was to meet in the woods next to Mystic Falls High at a spot they had arranged on before they left L.A. It was between the school and the Lockwood's cellar, but far enough away from each that they wouldn't be overheard. The aforementioned duo was already waiting by the time Katherine arrived and they seemed happy to get the ball rolling. Damon looked as sour as ever, of course, but Rebekah managed a smile that said 'even though I don't like you, we can work together for a common goal.' They each stepped off of the trees they were leaning against and looked around quickly, making sure one last time that no one was around.

"I guess the first question is, what is the end game here?" asked Damon.  
"We get the cure so I can take it and get away from all of you" said Rebekah.  
Katherine smirked and nodded. "That's fine with me, as long as Klaus doesn't get it I don't care who has it." She smiled wider, maybe a little too wide, trying to hide the fact that she didn't plan on it ending up that way at all. She had hoped to get the cure first and barter her freedom from Klaus with it, but if Rebekah found out, things would get a lot more complicated.  
"Elena won't take it anyway," said Damon, looking more upset than usual. "She's so stubborn sometimes."  
"We're going to go see Klaus, you go find Elijah and see what you can get out of him." Rebekah turned to leave without waiting for an answer.

Katherine made her way to a park that she and Elijah had met at many times over the years, hoping to stay away from prying eyes. Elijah had a thing for her and Klaus would never have let that happen, since he had dedicated so much of his energy to finding and killing her. They would meet under cover of darkness and spend as much time together as they could, eventually parting when the sun would peek up over the horizon. It worked well, for a time, until Katherine had decided to take a leave of absence and go to Europe for a while. She hadn't stayed in contact with anyone during that time and she hoped that Elijah wouldn't be upset with her, mostly because she needed information about the cure, but there was a still a part of her that cared about him. There was a split second where she wondered what he would do if he tried to advance on her for a kiss and she denied him, but that would have to be dealt with when it happened.  
She arrived at the park and looked around, seeing nothing but a few couples walking dogs and some kids playing with a football. After a few more minutes of looking she moved over to the gazebo and took a seat on one of the benches, taking out her phone to dial the number she had for him. As soon as she pressed send she heard a ringing sound behind her, followed by the deep, fluid voice she hadn't heard in so long.

"No need," said Elijah, "I'm here."  
"I can always count on you, can't I?" asked Katherine.  
"I suppose you can. What brings you back to Mystic Falls?"  
Katherine inhaled silently and began her story. "Oh, you know, something to do with Klaus. My whole existence revolves around no getting killed by your big brother."  
"So many years later you would think one would have moved on, but Klaus is a special sort."  
"Special indeed," said Katherine. "I'm here helping Rebekah and Damon look for the cure."  
"Ah, this famous cure. Everyone's buzzing about it." Elijah cleared his throat and adjusted his suit jacket. "That's why I'm here as well."  
"Have you heard anything about it, then?"  
"I've managed bits and pieces, but I wasn't really concentrating. I'm guessing you want to bargain with Klaus and my sister wants it for herself, yes?"  
Katherine smiled and held back a laugh. "Nothing gets past you, huh?"  
"Well from what I've heard through the grapevine, so to speak, is Jeremy's mark is complete now that Kol is dead, and everyone is looking for the sword."  
"Do you know where Jeremy is?" Katherine's body temperature rose and she began to get excited.  
"Last I knew he was still training with the other human that was close to Elena."  
"Matt." She shook her head and then gave Elijah a hug, stepping back with her hands on his biceps. "Thanks for the help. I knew I could always count on you."  
"No problem," said Elijah. There was a hint of sadness in his voice but Katherine shook it off the best she could. They had a job to do and there wasn't a lot of time to waste.

Later that day Katherine managed to find Matt and Jeremy at The Grill, relaxing after a training session. Jeremy's face lit up for the smallest hint of a second but then he registered that it was her and not Elena, and immediately his expression turned to stone. He looked away from her to Matt, who was looking over Katherine like she was going to do something she shouldn't and he was getting ready to make a move. Coincidentally he was drying off silverware to be wrapped by the servers, and though he knew a knife wouldn't do anything in the long run, he supposed it could help in a pinch if he managed to stab her in the eye with it. Both of the boys ended up being properly surprised in the end, when she made her way up to the bar and sat down next to Jeremy with a smile on her face.

"So, Jeremy," she started, "I've managed to hear your mark is complete. Congratulations."  
"What do you want Katherine?" asked Jeremy.  
"So moody." Katherine smiled and Matt raised his eyebrows. "It just so happens that you and I are two pieces to a two piece puzzle."  
"What does that-" said Matt, quickly getting cut off by Jeremy.  
"You have it?" asked Jeremy, looking around to make sure no one was watching. "Where is it?"  
"Patience, buddy," said Katherine, smiling as she reached over the counter to grab a bottle of whiskey. "We need to be careful with this."  
"Says you" said Matt.  
"Yes, says me. I've managed to stay away from Klaus for five hundred years, I would think I know a thing or two about caution and planning."  
"Then what's the idea?" asked Jeremy, watching as she downed two fingers of the intoxicating liquid before pouring more.  
"We figure out the map, you and I, and then we employ the help of people we can trust to go retrieve the cure."  
Jeremy looked suspicious for a moment and exchanged a glance with Matt. "How do I know I can trust you? You're the most likely to screw any of us over, even more than Klaus."  
"I'm hurt, Jeremy, really," said Katherine, holding a hand over her heart, "I've changed."  
"I don't believe that at all" said Matt, drying off glasses with the towel he kept over his shoulder. "You don't just change after that much time."  
"Why don't you ask Rebekah?" Katherine smiled and Matt blushed and looked away, continuing his work wordlessly. "I know you have a thing for her, and trust me, she saw how much I've changed first hand. If you don't believe me, ask her."  
"We need to go to Professor Shane," said Jeremy.  
"Well then let's go."

Matt had to continue with his shift so Katherine and Jeremy left together, heading toward Shane's office. No one was really sure about him either, except for Bonnie. She seemed to take everything he said seriously while everyone else took it at face value at best, but the truth was he knew more about Silas and everything that surrounded his legend than anyone else, so they kind of needed him, at least for the time being. There would hopefully be a point where he helped them work out enough that they could leave him behind, but knowing him the little that they did, he probably had some sort of backup plan in case they tried to phase him out. With that thought, Katherine wondered what his end game could be if he was trying to stay so close to the whole thing. What could he possibly get out of it? No one really seemed to be sure about anything when it came to Shane, except for the fact that they should keep him at arm's length.  
When they approached Shane's office they went up and knocked quickly, entering without waiting for a 'come in.' Shane was sitting behind his desk grading papers, but the notebook he had with all of his information about Silas lay open next to him like he was going back and forth. He looked up at both of them and had mixed looks of surprise and fear, happy to see Jeremy, afraid of Katherine. He shut the folder and put it in the top drawer of his desk, then clicked his pen and dropped it on the paper he was currently reading. Katherine took a seat and Jeremy reluctantly followed, his eyes tracing the different paintings that covered the walls.

"What can I do for you?" asked Shane.  
"Jeremy's mark is complete" said Katherine, jabbing a thumb over to him. "And I have the sword"  
Shane's eyes lit up and he clapped his hands together. "Marvelous! What do you say we get started on this now, then?"  
"Sure," said Jeremy.

They left the office and got into Katherine's car, Shane in the back seat with his folder on his lap. Jeremy looked uncomfortable and Katherine didn't really know what to do to make him feel better. He obviously still didn't trust her at all and the added stress of a second untrustworthy person was making him feel a little off. He stared out the window and didn't offer any kind of conversation so she didn't push. They passed the high school and a few stores on the way out of town, a small opening that led to a nature trail through the woods their final destination. When they reached the trail Katherine parked off to the side so the car was somewhat hidden in the shade and got out, popping the trunk before she shut the door. The sword was still secured in its spot under the carpet so she grabbed it and met back up with the boys, and they set out down the trail.  
She walked for what must have been fifteen minutes until she stopped in a small clearing and waited for the guys to catch up. Shane looked positively electric and Jeremy looked like he had just found out Alaric died for the first time, his face was pale and he looked slick with sweat. He moved around to Katherine's left so they stood in a triangle shape and took his shirt off, tucking it into his waist so he wouldn't have to throw it on the ground. Katherine tapped his abs with the back of her hand in mock appreciation and Jeremy jumped back a little, his eyes wild for a second until he eventually calmed down.

"You need to relax," said Katherine.  
"Well in case you forgot you look identical to my sister and it kind of freaks me out," said Jeremy.  
"Yeah well, get over it. We have work to do."  
"Hold the sword up to his chest," said Shane, opening his folder to the drawing of the mark he had sketched on a piece of paper.  
"Do you know how to read it?" asked Jeremy.  
"No," said Shane, "but I'm sure we can figure it out together."

They spent the better part of an hour feeling Jeremy's body up with the sword, twisting it this way and that while Shane wrote in his notebook. Jeremy looked like he was about to take flight at any second, but he pushed through it with admirable resolve. Finally Shane had come to a conclusion, indicated by the triumphant 'ha!' he yelled out to the trees. Katherine and Jeremy both stood still, waiting for him to share his revelation but he seemed to be lost in his thoughts.

"Earth to Shane," said Katherine, "you got it or what?"  
"Yeah, yeah. We should be good to go tomorrow."  
"Tomorrow?" asked Jeremy.  
"From what I've gathered it looks like an island, but I'm not sure exactly where. I need to do some more research with what I have and when I find it you'll be the first one to know."  
"Alright then, I guess we're done here," said Katherine.

They packed up and headed back up the trail to the car and Katherine dropped Shane back off at his office. Jeremy was sitting quietly in the passenger seat and didn't say he wanted to go anywhere specific, so she just decided to take him back to The Grill. When they pulled into the parking lot her nodded to Katherine and got out without saying anything, shutting the door softly behind him. Once he was inside she pulled away and dialed Rebekah's number. It rang a few times and then went to voicemail, so she figured that Rebekah was busy with Klaus and leaving a message about it wasn't the smartest thing so she hung up and put the phone back in her pocket. There wasn't much left to do until the next day so figured the best thing to do would be to steal a bottle of whiskey and hang out at her house until morning.  
The next morning she woke up late, having finished the entire bottle of whiskey by herself in just under a couple hours. A look at the clock showed half past eleven and immediately she began to worry that they had left without her. She called up Rebekah and again there was no answer, though she had a missed call from her late the night before. A call to Damon produced the same results, a generic voicemail message. Without time to spare she stormed out the front door and got in the car, not bothering to change, and headed straight for Shane's office. When she arrived he was nowhere to be found, but it was easy enough to get inside without him. She found his laptop on the desk along with some scraps from his notebook, but the notebook itself was gone. The laptop wasn't closed all the way so she opened it up, smiling triumphantly when she saw a map page with the name of an island off the coast of Nova Scotia. The page was accessed only an hour before she got there, so they weren't too far ahead.  
Knowing they wouldn't have the resources to get everyone flights right away she was positive that they drove, so once again it was to the road. At least she got to the North, since the most upper part of the United States were still pretty foreign to her. Of all of her travels she was either in the South or in another country altogether, so it was nice to get to go somewhere she wasn't familiar with. That said, it would also be harder to find them when she didn't have any intimate knowledge of the area. It was still early enough in the day when she left that traffic wasn't too much of a problem passing through the city, and she ended up on the highway before rush hour. She drove as fast as she possibly could, not worried about getting pulled over since she could compel her way out of a ticket and be moving again within a minute. The car pushed over one hundred miles an hour easy and the cars she passed looked almost like they were sitting still. Occasionally she would catch the eyes of one of the drivers in her rear view mirror, some of them even being brave enough to give her the finger. She just laughed it off and continued on.  
It took the better part of a day to reach the island and by the time she set foot on its soil it was still the dark of morning. The group was nowhere to be found for the time being so she sat up against a tree and rested for a while. As soon as the sun came up she picked a direction and walked, roaming around for close to two hours before she heard voices in the distance. The unmistakable shrill of Elena's complaining was being carried on the wind to her ears, but in the trees it was hard to tell which direction it was coming from. A hard listen told her left so she headed that direction as quietly as possible, happening upon the group as they traveled east to the where the cure was supposedly buried. Shane told old stories of the lore of Silas and Qetsiyah as the others listened and hiked, eventually stopping at the end of a cave entrance. Rebekah and Damon exchanged glances and Elena went straight in without even stopping, Jeremy hot on her heels.  
Katherine waited until everyone was either in the cave or gone from that spot before she went in herself, hoping that she would be able to sneak in without someone seeing or hearing her. She went through the twists and turns of the cave, stepping as lightly as possible so she could try to listen ahead and see if they had stopped somewhere. Eventually voices faded and she realized she was far enough behind to be able to move freely so she picked up the pace, making mental notes of the cave so she could find her way out in a hurry. Eventually she caught back up and found Jeremy lying on his back in an open room, Silas' body lying in a stone coffin undisturbed. She walked in and checked his pulse; he was dead. A quick look around showed no one in the vicinity so she wondered what could have possibly happened that had Jeremy dead with no one in sight. Before she could stand back up and go look for the others, a sound from behind her alerted to someone else's presence, though she wasn't sure who. Before the person's identity could be revealed she felt a hand on her back and was quickly flipped over, and before she could regain her bearings, cold, thick blood was dripping down the back of her throat. Elena knelt over her with a dirty tube in her hand and the realization dawned on her slowly, like the burning pain of cut.

She had ingested the cure, and she was human.


	6. Moving Forward, With Feeling

The cave walls seemed to shrink and close in on Katherine as she lay still on the ground. Elena had disappeared as soon as she crushed the cure into her mouth and no one had been down there since. The immediate reaction was to flee, as quickly as possible; coincidentally, it wouldn't be that fast anymore, when she needed it the most. As soon as Elena told someone, anyone, that she had forced her to take the cure, the race would be on to find her. Klaus especially would do anything he could to make sure he found her before she either died or got turned again, so he could drain her of every ounce of her precious blood now that she was once again a Petrova doppelganger. Silas continued to lay still in his open coffin and there were, for the moment, no sounds coming down from the tunnels. She was still in very immediate, very real danger, and it scared her more than anything had in centuries.  
She got up off the ground and dusted herself off, choosing to take the same tunnel back that she entered from. She listened hard, hoping that her normal, much duller human hearing might just be able to hear someone coming due to the acoustics of the cave walls, but everything was silent. Dew drops dripped from the ceiling and the musty smell was almost enough to cloud her senses completely, something she didn't have to worry about being a vampire. With supernatural abilities came the supernatural ability to either focus on or shift things, senses being one of the most common. Her nose and eyes burned, a combination of dank, stagnant air and little to no sunlight. By the time she reached the mouth of the cave the light of day stung and bit at her vision, making her eyes water until streams of tears poured down her face. Luckily no one came to tear her apart in her disheveled state.  
The memory of which way to go through the forest was hazy, her heightened ability to recall things lost. She looked back and forth at every tree in her vicinity, trying hard to get a feeling of some kind from one of them. Her gut told her to go left so she started forward, scanning everything around her so fast she easily got dizzy and almost tripped. Getting used to human life, for however long she had it, was going to be taxing, even moreso at a time she really didn't need it. The dirt path laid out in front of her showed that people had traveled it before; it was beaten down and footprints could be easily seen going both ways. Taking this as encouragement she sped up, hoping to get to the edge of the island as quickly as possible, and hoping against hope that the boat she used to cross the water was still there.  
By the time she reached the shore she was just lucky enough to catch the group heading back to the mainland on the barge they had brought in. Apparently Elena had assumed that Katherine either swam to the island, a feat that wouldn't be possible for a normal human, and would either die trying to swim back or starve, or Silas would resurrect and bleed her dry. Those situations, however horrible and excruciating they would be, were better than being at the mercy of Klaus. At the end of the day, though, her boat was still tucked away in the small alcove on the east side of the island where she had left it, unseen by anyone else. She scaled the side of the hill the best she could with her human balance, only falling an impressive two times, and hopped into the boat, hoping her weaker muscles would be enough to allow her to row to the other side.  
When she reached the shore of the mainland there were people around, but no sign of Elena or the rest of the group, which was a good sign. A few workers moved back and forth, carrying large palettes of equipment of which she wasn't sure of the appropriate use. They made noises that indicated struggle, like the palettes were heavier than they expected or were used to them being. She watched them move three loads from one side of the dock to the other, where another group of men unloaded them onto a medium-sized fishing boat. Or at least, it looked like a fishing boat. One of the men that was taking a break, cigarette hanging out of his mouth and coffee in hand, was watching her with a curiosity. He wasn't being a pervert and checking her out, but genuinely watching like he was wondering what she was going to do. It was obvious she didn't belong there and needed to leave, so she nodded to the man, who, in turn, flicked the ashes of his cigarette and waved casually, and she set off toward the front gate. A few of the younger guys did check her out as she passed, and she could feel their eyes roaming her body. She didn't particularly mind, it was nice to be noticed, but she was fully aware of her weakened state in that moment, something that not only made her feel not sexy, but vulnerable and scared.  
Once in the safety of her car with the wheels spinning as fast they could, she finally relaxed. Even being in the car was scary in itself; she had seen more than a few of those reality TV shows where people got into high speed chases with police and ended up crashing. Everything around her was a nagging reminder her of how gravely mortal she was, and the panic she felt when thinking of all the things that could possibly go wrong before she got home made her heart hammer inside her chest. She didn't miss that feeling at all. When she was calm enough to talk she grabbed her phone and dialed Tori's number, her brain scrambling to put together thoughts.

"Hey, I was wondering when I would hear from you next."  
"Tori?" Katherine's voice came out small and barely above a whisper.  
"Katherine? What's the matter?"  
"I..." She trailed off and tear stung the corners of her eyes.  
"Whatever it is you can tell me, you know that," said Tori.  
"I'm...human." The silence on both ends of the phone rang in her ears so loud she almost swerved off the road.  
"What do you-, do you mean-," Tori stammered, not able to form a full sentence.  
"Elena force-fed me the cure so she wouldn't have to take it and Klaus wouldn't get it either. I'm human."  
"Holy chiz," said Tori, exhaling with a gust into the phone. "So what do you want to do? Where do we go from here?"  
"I want you to turn me again," said Katherine, her voice rising almost a full octave to the point that she sounded hysterical. "I'm really vulnerable like this and I'm scared."  
"Of course you're scared-"  
"I don't think you understand." Katherine's voice cracked as tears began to fall, making her vision blurry and her anxiety rise. "I've pissed a _lot_ of people off in life, Tori. There would be a line around our entire block of people that would love to see me die."  
Tori's heart pounded in her chest and her mouth ran dry. "Well I'm sure we can figure this out, you just need to lay low until I can get to you."  
"Fly here, please. There's cash stored in the house, and you're fresh so there wouldn't be anything weird about you being identified at an airport." Katherine took the closest exit and stopped at a rest stop much like the one she had stopped at on the way to Mystic Falls the first time. "In the basement there's a dufflebag inside a false wall. Knock around until you find it and in the bag there's cash and some other stuff." She parked and turned the car off, leaning back in the seat with her eyes closed. "Grab two stacks, then head straight for the airport and buy a ticket at the counter for the next flight out."  
"OK," said Tori, "will you be alright for a little while? Where are you anyway?"  
"I'm in," she stopped to think for a second, "Maine."  
"What? Why-, nevermind, it doesn't matter. I'll be there as soon as possible. I love you."  
"I love you, too."

It took a few minutes before Katherine could muster up the strength to move again, and when she did she put 'airport' into the car's GPS. Portland Jetport was the main metro airport so she started a course for it and went to leave, then thought twice about her predicament, like she had been doing since she first woke up. She was human for the time being, which meant she was going to get hungry at some point, so she decided to head into the rest stop to get some kind of food to take in the car for the trip. Hitting and running wasn't really an option anymore so she searched her bra and found two twenty dollar bills stuffed into the lining, pulled them out and headed inside.  
The smells hit her just like they had before, but this time they weren't as strong. That said, they were enough now to make her mouth water; her stomach growled fiercely from not having anything in it for, well, five hundred years. She went down the line and looked at all of the different shops, really seeing them for the first time. They didn't have a lot of the stuff she saw when she was still human, and since everything had been invented during a time that it didn't mean anything to her, she didn't really pay attention. The first thing that caught her eye was a large double cheese and pepperoni pizza. It glistened in the light from grease and the smell of marina sauce wafted into her nostrils in the most satisfying way. She walked up to the counter and pointed to the pizza, then looked at the cashier with a smile.

"I'll take that."  
"For here or to go?" asked the young man, waiting to push the buttons on the register.  
"To go. Please. And I'll take one of these as well." She reached into an outward facing cooler and plucked out a bottle of water.

They exchanged money and someone else boxed up her prize, handing it over the counter to her with smile and 'have a nice day.' She took the box to the car and sat it on the passenger seat, quickly taking out one of the slices to try it. The feeling of having something chewy between her teeth was one that she wasn't used to, seeing as she didn't really have to put on a show for humans all that often, and it made her mouth water like she was going to throw up, but she choked it back and forced herself to get over the initial weirdness. The taste was actually very pleasant, far from the acidic charcoal flavor that normal food usually gave a vampire. There was something freeing about being alive; the danger of possibly being snuffed out at any second seemed even more real than it did when she was being hunted by Klaus in her undead state. Sure, he could have killed her at any moment, but with being human came a massive number of other things that could possibly kill her. Poison, car accidents, murder. The possibilities really were endless and the fear cemented itself in her gut, feeling warm and uncomfortable around the digesting food.  
After finishing two pieces of the pizza she drank half of the bottle of water and started the car once more, starting the GPS route to the airport. With any luck Tori would already be waiting to board a flight and they would be able to meet up by the end of the night. There was also a small fear that maybe someone from the group would suspect that she would call Tori and plan their rendezvous, and they would show up at the airport at the last minute and steal her away before they could reclaim, or re-unclaim, her life. The few hours it took to drive from the top of the state to the bottom were spent nervously looking every direction from the car, wondering if she was driving too fast or if other cars were getting a little bit too close to her. It was exhausting looking out for her personal safety every second, and the thought that humans did that every day for their entire lives was exhausting. She figured the manic part would die off after a while, but the present fear didn't seem like it was going anywhere anytime soon.  
The airport was pretty packed with mid-afternoon flights deboarding. Since the Jetport was the major airport in the area it took an impressively large amount of flights for its small size, and the amount of people that were flooding out of the building into the parking garage seemed unreal. She couldn't imagine that all of the people that came out would fit into the cars that were available, even if they filled all of the seats in each one. Security drove in circles around the entire complex while some stayed parked in front of the entrance all down the main strip. They watched everyone carefully as the dragged their luggage to whatever personal vehicles or taxis were waiting for them. Families and friends chatted animatedly about this or that, pointing different ways to most likely give a general direction to something they were talking about. One woman looked like she might have had a little too much to drink on the flight and stumbled a little bit across the modern style cobble path across the road. A man in a business suit caught and righted her and she thanked him profusely, pulling a cigarette out of her purse as soon as she hit the other side of the road.  
Once she found a spot to park Katherine sat in the car, waiting for something she couldn't really put her finger on. There was a lot of factors in the equation now that she didn't really think about before, such as the fact that the cure was gone for good, and there was going to be a wave of things to come because of that. Rebekah would be devastated, Elena would be elated and Klaus would most likely be happiest of all. Even though he'd eventually find out that she had turned again and he still wouldn't be able to get his hybrid army, he would be happy to know that the cure couldn't be used against him and he wouldn't have to spend anymore time looking for the sword and putting the pieces together. Thinking of Klaus reminded her that, in the grand scheme of things, he was still going to be hunting her, and there needed to be something she could do once and for all to get him off of her back. The idea came to her when she saw a family walking through the parking lot towards a large black SUV. The older son was holding the younger daughter's hand and Katherine could see that he had stitches on his left arm. Probably from skateboarding or backyard wrestling or whatever crazy things kids could manage to do to themselves. She reached into the back seat and pulled her purse up, looking through it for the nail file that she kept in the bottom. It was metal but sort of flimsy, enough that she would be able to bend it back and forth a few times then twist a piece of to get a sharp edge. With the nail file in hand she snapped it into two pieces, holding the sharper one to her forearm, and pressed as hard as she could. Blood started to spill everywhere so she quickly grabbed the water bottle and let the blood drip down her arm to her hand, then down her fingers into the bottle. It collected for a few minutes until there was about half of a bottle, then she grabbed some tissues and wiped off her arm, holding the wad of tissue on the cut to stanch the bloodflow.  
Thinking that her blood, enough to make at least a few more hybrids, would be enough to set her free from Klaus Katherine got out of the car and headed inside, looking for the first security guard she could find. The place was busy, people hurrying along on cell phones with their luggage bobbing in their wake. The closest security guard was a large man that stood near the ticket counter so she started towards him, catching his eye when he swept in her direction. He saw the dried blood on her arm and instantly grabbed his radio, saying something she could no longer hear as he walked toward her with purpose.

"Ma'am, are you alright?"  
"Yeah," said Katherine, "I just cut myself on something metal reaching into my trunk to grab my purse."  
"OK then let's get you looked at," said the guard, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder to guide her towards the security office.

She followed him to the other side of the wall that the ticket counter was on and through a heavy wooden door with a glass window in the center. It had wire in it like the windows did in school doors, that way no one could break the glass and reach in with something to unlock the door. The security guard motioned to the chair on the right side of the table and Katherine sat down as he went into the adjacent room, coming back moments later with a bright red first aid kit.

"Looks like you got yourself pretty good," said the guard, "reminds me of when my son busted his head open falling out of a tree."  
"Sounds painful," said Katherine, "what's his name?"  
"Daryl. Mine is Leif."  
"I'm Katherine. Thanks for patching me up."  
"No problem." Leif grabbed an alcohol pad and made eye contact with her before he grabbed her arm, and she nodded solemnly to give permission. The alcohol stung the outside edges of the cut, but in a good way. Human pain was a lot different than vampire pain.  
"I think it was some kind of cable wire or something," said Katherine, "it was silver and really solid. I couldn't bend it with my fingers. I'm borrowing a friend's car so I'm not really sure what it is."  
"I know what you mean, probably a brake line for a bike or something. Those will cut you up pretty good."  
"Luckily I'm in good hands." Katherine smiled and Leif smiled back.  
"You headed out? Traveling pretty light."  
"Not today. Waiting for my girlfriend to get in from L.A so we can go see some friends together, then we'll both be heading back in a couple days or so."  
"That's exciting, reunions are always a good thing. Has it been long?"  
"A few days or so, but sometimes a few days can feel like a few years. Know what I mean?"  
"I sure do," said Leif, finishing up by wrapping the gauze in an ace bandage. "You're all set, miss. Hopefully it'll hold you together until you're all healed up and good as new."  
She looked down at the professional job and felt a rush of affection. "Thanks a lot, I don't know what I would have done had I been on my own."  
"Well that's the good thing about a world full of people. You never have to be on your own if you don't want to be."

Katherine let the words sink in and the weight of her actions over the past handful of centuries pressed down on her chest. When she first fell in love with Tori she felt herself changing, looking at things from a different perspective, but she was still a vampire underneath it all. Now, being human and being at bey to billions of people's potentially harmful motives, she realized how long she had spent poisoning herself with negativity. There was always light in the world, she just chose to go around it, a natural vampire reaction, and in doing so she ended up shading her insides a little much. Leif was such a carefree type of person and his general kindness had left its mark; she would leave that place a different person than she was when she entered.

"Maybe I'll see you again someday," said Katherine.  
"Lookin' forward to it."

Leif held the door open and nodded, and Katherine exited with a smile on her face.

It was still going to be another two hours or so until Tori landed so she decided to check out the gift shop while she waited. As soon as she entered the shop, though, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Thinking that it might have been Tori with bad news about a rerouted flight or something she answered, seeing a number she didn't recognize on the screen.

"Hello?"  
"Katerina." Klaus.  
"Can I help you, Klaus?" asked Katherine, hoping to keep up her usual facade so she didn't get suspicious.  
"I've been notified of your newly acquired status, and I think we should have a chat."  
"You want to bleed my whole body dry as payback for running from you for so long and then use said blood to create your army. Does that about sum it up?"  
"More or less," said Klaus.  
Katherine tried to think on her feet amidst the stress. "Well, unfortunately I've switched vehicles and am on my way to meet an old friend so he can turn me back, so I think you'll find you're in the same position we've been in for so long."

"I can hear all of the voices in the background, you're not in a car."  
Katherine hesitated for a nanosecond and recalculated. "Well I'm not at the moment, but I will be. You know, humans have to actually eat food in order to not starve."  
Klaus was silent and the void of conversation weighted heavily on Katherine's shoulders. "You don't want to do this, Katerina."  
"I know how pissy you get when you don't get your way, Klaus, and I'm not too worried about it. Even in my fragile, weak, human state, I couldn't care less about what you want, or how hard you'll look for me after we hang up."  
"You're right about that," said Klaus, his voice small and quiet. "I will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth and I promise you, Katerina Petrova, that I will rip your fucking lungs from your chest with my bare hands."  
"Good luck," said Katherine, turning her phone completely off before taking the battery out and throwing the two pieces in different trash cans.

A quick look at the nearest flight board showed the arrival of United Airlines flight UA232 from LAX to be on schedule and currently at one hour and forty minutes out. There was really nothing to do but wait, so she headed for the waiting area and found a place to sit near the desk, coincidentally with one of the TVs facing right at her. The subtitles read the regular news, coming from an aging anchor that looked like she was trying her best to hang on to her forties, and the run-of-the-mill stories went off one by one, almost like you could check them off on a sheet; shooting at a mall in Nevada, ten year old boy drowned in a pond in Minnesota, good Samaritans rescued a dog from a burning shed in Kansas and some Politician was getting ready to go on vacation to London. The monotony of world events, coupled with the enormous stress of the past day, eventually led Katherine to falling asleep in the two-person seat she was sitting in. She curled up sideways and was out in minutes, dreaming of the day that she would finally be able to go away for a while herself.

Tori made her way to the ticket counter as soon as she got to the airport. LAX was huge and constantly full of people, making it almost impossible to walk causally from one spot to another. Everyone was kept on their toes by everyone else, rushing to gates to make connecting flights or trying to find a place to eat where the line wasn't all the way to the front entrance. The security guards rode segways around to more quickly get from one part of the complex to another, a practice that was necessary for a building that saw dozens of thousands of people every day. The line to check in was full at almost every airline but Tori knew what was at stake, so she went to the first counter and stood face to face with the next person in line.

"I'll give you a hundred dollars cash if I can take your spot in line," said Tori.  
"Sure thing," said an older man with a Hawaiian t-shirt. "I don't have to be anywhere for a while."  
"Thank you."

When the person in front of her was done she moved up and the woman behind the counter smiled a very large, very fake customer service smile while holding up a finger to signal a wait. She clicked through the computer for a moment and then took a drink of whatever she had in an opaque water bottle with a large straw. "Thank you for choosing United Airlines, how can I help you today?"  
"I need a flight to Portland, Maine as soon as possible. Like, an hour ago." Tori was flustered and the woman grimaced in understanding.  
"Let me see what I can find." After a couple minutes of searching her face lit up and she smiled her fake smile again. "I can have you leaving in an hour for two thousand dollars even."  
"Deal," said Tori, taking the cash out of her purse. She grabbed two stacks, pulled the paper ribbon off and handed the money to the woman, who immediately looked suspicious. "It's not stolen, I swear." That could have been a complete lie, and it most likely was, but she didn't need to know that.  
"OK. Here's your ticket," the printed crunched some and spit out her ticket, "and you'll be heading to gate H6."  
"Thank you," said Tori, "have a good day."

During the time Katherine had been gone it seemed like the world was standing still. She was no longer tied to the normal passing of time, so it seemed like hours and days didn't even matter anymore. When Katherine was gone she was usually by herself, sitting around with nothing to do except contemplate the next five hundred years of her life. Their current situation made her rethink even that, though, even though she was sure that was the only cure from the way the Mystic Falls group talked about it. Of course, there was always the possibility that there was another one they didn't yet know about or maybe there was a witch that could make another one, but she didn't want to think about that. The immortality she had been given, albeit begrudgingly, was a gift, no matter the negative sides to it. The negatives sides were definitely not something to be ignored, lest she end up like Stefan once was or like Elena currently was. A lot of vampires ended up turning off their humanity at some point, mostly because they were in it alone, but she had Katherine, and for that she was thankful in more ways than one.  
Jade's case was still moving forward but she hadn't heard anything from Detective Graham since their last conversation on the night of the sleepover. Andre realized something was off almost immediately after she had talked to the Detective that night and pulled her aside to talk, but she waved him off; getting into the discussion of Jade during the group's first time back together wasn't really a good idea. He seemed OK with waiting until the next morning and Tori was thankful that he wasn't pushy, so she tried her best to put everything out of her mind so she could enjoy the company of her friends. The next morning they all took off at the same time, leaving her once again alone in the big house. With nothing else to do but wait, she practiced the piano a bit and flipped through the TV channels a few times, never finding anything worth watching. When night time would come she would head out to her favorite spot on the back steps and watch the sky get painted pastel colors that slowly faded to black over the push and pull of the sea. There was something to be said about your favorite things being somewhat duller and less enjoyable when missing the one you love.  
Earlier in the current day's morning Tori had just managed to get out of the shower before Katherine's call came in. She knew as soon as she answered it that something was wrong, and she wasn't all that surprised. Going out on a sort of mission when Klaus and Elena were involved usually meant something bad was going to happen, from what she had seen and what Katherine had told her about in the past, but she wasn't prepared for the severity of this one. To actually hear Katherine cry was like seeing a rare bird that only makes appearances every so many years, and it was as heartbreakingly beautiful as it was disconcerting. There was no question of whether or not she would go to her and give her what she wanted, though, only of how much time it would take for her to get there and if Katherine would be safe enough while she waited.  
The gate for her flight was packed. It looked like the plane was going to be at capacity and boarding was only about twenty minutes off. People gathered their belongings and pocketed them, getting everything into a neat one-wide package that would fit through the boarding doors and into a seat before expanding once again. Kids wrapped up their iPods and laptops while adults shouldered purses and locked briefcases. Tori got into the back of the line and waited while gold members boarded first, then first class and then everyone else. She could have sprung for a first class ticket, Katherine wouldn't have minded since she _was _going to save her, but that wasn't really her style. The woman at the counter by the door reminded Tori of her mom, since she had the same haircut and color. Tori walked forward and handed over her ticket. The woman checked it and tore a piece off, then handed the rest back with a quick "have a nice flight."  
The flight was long and uneventful for the most part. She listened to music on her phone for most of the way, only stopping when her phone's battery died. Probably not a good idea, since she might need to call Katherine to find where she was. There were small bits of turbulence here and there, especially going over the flatlands of the midwest, but all in all the flight was smooth and went off without a hitch. As they landed the captain came over the speakers in a voice that reminded her of old time radio.

"Welcome everyone to sunny Portland, Maine. The current temperature is seventy one degrees with a slight breeze from the northwest. Skies are clear and will remain that way for the rest of the day so I suggest you take advantage of it. Thanks for flying United."

As soon as she stepped off the plane the relief of being in an open space made her feel much better. She wasn't claustrophobic but being cramped in a small plane seat for six hours was definitely not the most fun thing in the world. Upon walking out into the open gate area she saw the sign for baggage claim and the escalator that it pointed to, so she headed that direction since that's where the exit doors would be. On the bottom floor she passed by a large area full of chairs and found, with a quick glance out of the corner of her eye, Katherine lying on her back on one of the double chairs by the podium. She walked over and knelt down in front of her, smiling at Katherine's sleepy face.

"Hi."  
Katherine's eyes flew open and she sat up so quickly she looked dizzy. "You scared me."  
"Sorry," said Tori. "Do I get a hug?"  
They looked at each other for a second and then Katherine flung herself forward, almost knocking Tori to the ground. "It's really good to see you."  
"It's really good to see you too," said Tori. "What now?"  
Katherine thought for a second. "I guess we get a hotel and go from there."  
"Alright, let's go."

The girls left the airport and got into the car, with the first thing Tori seeing being the bag of Katherine's blood in the center console. She held it in her hands and waited for Katherine to get in and then turned towards her, holding the bag up in front of her face.

"Interesting blood bag you have here."  
"Interesting, indeed. It's my blood."  
Tori's eyebrows shot up and she looked like someone had just asked her to rob a bank. "What? Why?"  
"I'm going to leverage my freedom with Klaus. I give him the bag, he can make two or three more hybrids. Better than none, and in return I get to go free."  
"But how do you know he'll actually let you go?"  
Katherine smiled. "Klaus may be a dick but he's old school. His word is bond and he sticks by it."  
"OK," said Tori, "so how do you want to do this?"  
"Usually I like to be on the bottom," said Katherine.

"You know what I mean." Tori smiled and her thoughts instantly wandered away like a puppy that had slipped off its collar.  
"Speaking of old school, let's keep it simple. Snap my neck and then feed me your blood. I'll wake up, we'll hit the bar across the street and cement the process."  
Tori shook her head and laughed nervously. "Yeah, _just_ snap your neck. Not a big deal."  
"Well you know I'll come back so get on with it."

Tori rubbed her face with her hands, trying to fight off tiredness and concentrate on the task at hand. Katherine sat cross-legged on the bed and Tori got up and sat behind her, legs on each side of Katherine's hips. She marveled at the warmth and the feeling of their bodies together again, not wanting to leave that position once she was in it. Katherine leaned back and turned her head so she could see Tori's eyes. "I love you, you know."

"I love you too," said Tori, taking a deep breath. "What happened on the island?"  
"Oh man, that's a long story-"  
Tori interrupted Katherine's answer, having only asked to get her mind off of what was about to happen, by grabbing her chin with her right hand and the side of her head with her left, simultaneously pushing and pulling in a fluid motion that echoed a loud _crack_ throughout the room. Katherine's body instantly fell limp and Tori cradled her in her arms, kissing her on the neck before moving her to one of the pillows to lie while she waited to come back. Tori bit her own wrist until blood was pouring out and then put it up to Katherine's mouth, allowed the red gold to drip into her throat and do its work.

It took eleven hours before Katherine woke up again. She looked like she had a massive hangover and her lips were dry and cracked. She stretched, looking around the room for Tori, who seemed to be absent. The light was off so she switched it on and looked around, everything drifting to the sides slightly in a sort of haze. Her throat burned uncontrollably and her limbs ached. Her head pounded and the base of her neck felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. A quick try of standing up had her back on the bed within a few steps, so she decided to just wait and see when Tori would get back. The curtains were open and the city lights twinkled brightly like fallen stars. She laid quietly in the bed for another half hour before Tori showed up, carrying her purse against her chest. Katherine smiled and sat up the best she could, catching Tori's eye and gleaning a huge smile.

"You're awake," said Tori.  
"Sort of."  
"I brought you something."  
Katherine pulled the covers off of her legs and moved so Tori could sit on the side of the bed next to her. "What is it?"  
Tori reached into her purse and pulled out a blood bag. "I figured you would be too weak to get up and go out after someone, so I decided I'd bring the endgame to you."  
Katherine smiled and played with a lock of Tori's hair. "That's really sweet of you, but the kill is what cements the turning, not the blood itself."  
Tori's face turned dark and she sighed. "Oh."  
"I'm sorry, I know you don't like it and I don't like it either, but it needs to be done if-"  
"If what?"  
"If we want everything back to the way it was."  
Tori sat quietly for a minute, seemingly rolling over the events in her head. "Of course I do, let's get you squared away."

There was a bar about a mile away from the hotel that Tori had found out from a local at the front desk was usually a spot for 'seedy people,' the exact kind of place they were looking for. Suspicious people that most likely had rap sheets and wouldn't talk to the cops no matter what. Tori led the way with Katherine leaning on her arm. They looked like a couple getting ready to go on a date, which she supposed they were in a way. The people at the front desk smiled as they passed and Tori waved casually, heading out into the parking lot to the car Katherine had stolen. When they arrived at the bar the music was loud enough to be heard at the stop light a ways down, and Tori knew immediately that they were going to be in and out with no problem.  
Outside of the bar were a bunch of people smoking cigarettes and laughing, some even dancing in the open handicap parking spaces up front. Tori parked and helped Katherine out, supporting her with an arm around her back as they made their way up to the front door. There wasn't a bouncer but the bikers on either side of the door looked particularly pissy, and she hoped that maybe they wouldn't ask any questions since women were usually let into most places for free and without hassle. The guy on the right checked them out while the guy on the left held the door open. Katherine mouthed a barely audible "thanks" as they passed through in an attempt to keep up appearances. The bartender spied them coming and looked over to the pool tables where a group of clearly intoxicated young men were having a rowdy game of 9-ball. The bartender made eye contact with Tori and waved them up front, so she turned Katherine and they made their way up to sit on the stools at the bar itself.

"How are you girls tonight?" asked the bartender. A license plate behind him said JOHNNY so she figured that was his name.  
"I'm good Johnny, you?"  
"Can't complain. What can I do you for?"  
"I'll have a Bourbon," said Katherine, "make it a double."  
"I'll have the same," said tori.  
The bartender smiled and pulled out two glasses. "Fierce, I like it."  
Tori downed her drink in one and looked back at Johnny. "About those boys over there," she pointed behind herself toward the tables, "you know any of them?"  
Johnny scowled and shook his head. "Bunch of pricks if you ask me. They come here every week and cause shit. Get trashed and just be fuckin' assholes to everyone that comes in here. I kick 'em out all the time but they just keep coming back. I don't want to bar them completely since they buy a ton of booze and make me some good profits, but I'm starting to lose regulars because of them."  
"Which one is the leader?" asked Tori.  
"Why, you interested in bad boys or something?"  
"Always."  
Johnny smiled with a hint of disgust. "Chad, the dude in the green shirt, is probably the most likely to be the leader. He's the loudest and orders the others to get drinks or change the jukebox."  
"Thanks Johnny," said Tori, while Katherine finished her drink. "Keep the change."

The girls watched for about a half hour from the bar to see what the group of guys was like. Chad was the typical frat guy asshole that no one wanted to be around. He wore a backwards fitted hat that made him look like a boy band member and a muscle shirt that accentuated his biceps. Whenever girls would pass their table to get to the bathroom or the jukebox he would eye them up and down, not caring about he disgusted looks they gave him. He'd high five his friends and even sometimes grab the women's asses that walked by. One of them slapped him across the face and all he did was laugh. He said something to one of his friends that sounded like, 'she'll be back.' Tori shook her head and wondered how guys like that managed to get any women at all.  
Tori took Katherine outside and they waited in the car for the group of guys to come out. They seemed to be having a pretty good time since it was another three hours before they stumbled into the parking lot, separating to get to their cars. Chad yelled something out to the boys from the middle of the lot that had them laughing and then got into his truck, immediately starting it up and leaving without putting on his seat belt. Chad drove with extreme abandon, swerving side to side and almost clipping a few other cars on the way to his house. Tori followed quietly behind while Katherine dozed off in the passenger seat. They took a series of side roads until they came to a dirt road in a smaller town than they had left. The advantage to the state they were in was the ability to find back roads and forest almost anywhere. Tori sped up and started using aggressive driving skills to force Chad back and forth, hoping to get him to either flip or crash. He sped up to try and evade them but the BMW was much faster than his twenty year old beater truck and Tori kept right up with him with ease. A corner was coming up so Tori used it to her advantage, nudging his back bumper just as he made to turn. The truck's back end spun out and he did a full three-sixty before smashing head first into a ditch.  
The loud nose woke Katherine up but Tori put a hand on her leg, squeezing gently to assure her that everything was OK. Katherine looked out the window and screwed her eyes up, trying to make heads or tails of where they were.

"What's going on?"  
"I have your guy. He's in the ditch."

Tori got out with the intention of helping Katherine but was surprised to see her already making her way down the ditch. By the time she reached the truck Katherine already had Chad out and had him pressed against the driver's side door. He looked frightened and confused, electing not to say anything for the first few minutes. Tori stayed a few steps back as Katherine sized him up, eventually patting him on the face like a concerned teacher.

"Are you hurt, Chad?" asked Katherine.  
"No, I, uh, I think I'm OK. Who are you?"  
"The person that will make you think twice." Katherine sunk her teeth into his neck and drank, pressing him up against the truck hard enough that he couldn't move. She drained and drained, drinking deep, feeling the strength returning to her that she had been missing for the past twenty four hours. When she couldn't feel a heartbeat anymore she opened the door of the truck and put Chad back in the driver's seat, then smashed his head against the steering wheel to make it look like he died from blunt force trauma during the crash.

Tori watched as Katherine set the scene up to be as bulletproof as possible. She watched all the little details from positioning his body just right to creating the right wounds in the correct spots to line up with the possible story that detectives would create. Katherine moved from one side of the truck to the other, making sure nothing that would show them being there was left behind, and when she was satisfied she returned to Tori and immediately wrapped her up in her arms.

"Thank you for saving me."  
"Of course," said Tori. "I'd do anything for you."  
"And I, you. Let's get out of here." Katherine walked to the driver's side door and Tori got into the passenger seat, strapping herself in quickly.  
"Where are we going?"  
Katherine smiled. "To see Klaus."

**A/N: I don't really even care anymore to be honest. I wrote this chapter so I could wrap up the story a little bit at least and left it open in case I want to come back to it someday, but I just don't feel like writing anymore. So, au revoir, take care, and if I don't see you; good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.**


End file.
